Biometric technologies championing a risk-free future for banks and mortgage lenders – COBA 2022
The new wave of digital verification software, built on biometric technologies promises to mitigate risks for banks and mortgage lenders, while improving the customer experience when it comes to signing loan documents.
Speaking as part of an expert panel on Monday, September 26 at the Annual Convention for the Customer Owned Banking Association (COBA 2022) on the Gold Coast, CEO of thelawstore.com.au, Lara Paholski, Head of Customer Service for Gateway Bank, Zeb Drummond, and CEO of Land Services SA and WA, Brenton Pike, discussed how the advent and introduction of biometric technology has and will continue to reduce the risk and improved the verification processes for banks, mortgage lenders and for customers.
Pike explained that over the past decade, as technology began to play its part in the verification of identity process, online signatures, while convenient could leave banks and mortgage lenders at a heightened risk, as spouses, partners or other external parties could sign and demonstrate a level of verification (i.e., a driver’s license number) without the “real person” genuinely signing the documents.
“Due to risks of digital signing, we introduced a verification of identity (VOI) standard nationally just over a decade ago, with the rationale being that banks and mortgage lenders were being put at risk of approving mortgages or loans for a customer who might not have been the person signing.
“We needed regulations to reduce the risk and improve the verification process for banks, mortgage lenders and customers. Over the past decade, we have worked to this VOI standard, however, as digital signing improved and people could fill out documents online, verification became much harder,” Pike said.
Noticing this risk in the market, thelawstore.com.au developed and launched livesign – a digital verification technology that uses biometric technologies to ensure the person signing the document is who they say they are.
The solution works by verifying the identity of a person at the point of signing high-value transaction documents. This eliminates the risk of fraud associated with a separate signing and VOI process.
During the same conversation, Zeb Drummond explained that Gateway Bank introduced a suite of technology, including livesign in April 2022, which has significantly improved the mortgage lending process for the customer, while at the same time alleviating risks to the bank.
He explained that by using livesign, Gateway Bank has been able to create a seamless customer journey.
“livesign is an amazing technology, built on biometrics. It is genuinely designed to make the customers life easier, while de-risking business for us in the finance and mortgage industry.
“Customers don’t see or sign mortgage or loan documents every day, so they can be so nervous, especially when doing this online. By introducing livesign and biometric technologies, we’ve been able to help reduce their admin and stress levels, making the process easier for them,” said Zeb.
CEO of thelawstore.com.au, Lara Paholski explained that livesign was developed for this purpose.
“We’ve seen a shift in the way banks and mortgage lenders are succeeding, and that is by being extremely considerate of the customer and their needs. Technology like livesign ensures that these lenders can support their customers, removing risks or confusion in many aspects of the loan process.
“At the same time, our technology was designed with the banks and mortgage lenders in mind. We have always been aware of the risks around digital signing – in fact, any signing processes that could be forged, intentionally or not – and wanted to create a tool that removed this risk for the lender – livesign was the result,” Ms Paholski said.
