Fractal, a Berlin and Singapore-based identification management upstart, has signed a strategic partnership with SeedBox Philippines, an online investment platform in the Philippines. The partnership with Seedbox will make it easier for Filipinos to retain and invest their hard-earned savings into mutual funds via Seedbox’s online platform. This has been made possible through Fractal’s Fractal ID solution which brings bank-grade compliant ‘Know Your Customer’ (KYC) and ‘Anti-Money Laundering (AML) capabilities to Seedbox’s operations. As a result, around 40,000 Filipinos will now have access to Seedbox every month, enabling them to invest in mutual funds and other investment products without having to own a bank account.
77% of Filipino adults do not have bank accounts, according to the 2017 Financial Inclusion Survey by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the central bank of the Philippines.
Julian Leitloff, CEO and founder of Fractal said:
“Digital technologies are driving opportunities for much greater financial inclusion. By providing technology solutions to non-bank financial institutions, our ambition is to expedite the transition to a more open and interoperable financial ecosystem.”
“Fractal was created to help develop a new decentralised space for this financial community. We want to help both users and companies achieve fast and accurate global verifications wherever they are and have a hassle-free experience when it comes to AML/KYC related requirements,” added Julian.
KYC and AML processes are critical components of financial institutions and other regulated entities that are required to verify identities, provide due diligence, and comply with legal requirements. However, per LexisNexis 2019 estimates, the annual true cost of compliance across Asia is around $6.09 billion, with the Singapore market representing just over half of this amount ($3.13 billion). The cost of AML compliance in the region has also risen by 9-10% over the last 24 months.
Fractal will provide KYC/AML solutions from 1 November 2019. Fractal’s self-serve software-as-a-service (SaaS) product will provide an opportunity for financial inclusion while maintaining compliance. The automated verification journey is composed of four components: ID document verification, liveness detection, facial comparison, and Politically Exposed Persons/Sanction List filtering – including human intervention if one part of the automated process fails. Fractal ID is able to onboard 40% more people than the market average due to the speed and ease of the onboarding process.
Re-disseminated by The Asian Banker