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WALLIS AND FUTUNA BUSINESS BRIEF: Electronic Know Your Customer (eKYC) Takes Center Stage in Compliance Efforts

In the South Pacific archipelago of Wallis and Futuna, businesses are under pressure to meet strict Know Your Customer (KYC) regulations. Traditional KYC workflows have been criticized for being time-consuming, labor-intensive, and prone to human error, resulting in significant drop-out rates during customer onboarding.

The Need for eKYC

However, a growing number of companies in the region are turning to electronic Know Your Customer (eKYC) solutions to streamline and accelerate onboarding while ensuring compliance with strict KYC regulations. eKYC uses digital technologies and data sources to authenticate customer identities remotely, making it an attractive option for businesses looking to improve efficiency and accuracy.

Benefits of eKYC

  • Digitizes the identity verification process, enabling faster and more accurate authentication
  • Reduces staff time and costs associated with KYC compliance
  • Improves accuracy and consistency by reducing human errors or oversights
  • Can be completed remotely in minutes rather than hours or days with manual review

How eKYC Works

eKYC uses optical character recognition (OCR) technology to extract data from submitted document images, facial recognition technology to verify customer identities, and screens against trusted data sources and watchlists.

Improving the Customer Experience

By adopting eKYC solutions, businesses in Wallis and Futuna can dramatically accelerate customer onboarding and reduce friction in the process, improving the customer experience and increasing conversions.

The Importance of Comprehensive Due Diligence

While eKYC is an essential component of a customer due diligence program, it’s also important to have risk scoring and enhanced due diligence in place to determine the appropriate level of scrutiny for each customer. Ongoing transaction monitoring is also needed to identify suspicious account activity.

Implementing eKYC

For businesses looking to implement eKYC in Wallis and Futuna, there are a few key steps to take:

  • Assess current KYC processes
  • Evaluate eKYC platform providers
  • Integrate the system into onboarding processes
  • Train staff on the new system