The value of digital identity in payments
Know your customer and other forms of digital identity verification have become commonplace in the financial sector. That’s because of how widespread identity theft is. This costs both financial firms and consumers around fifty billion dollars a year. Let’s learn more about the value of digital identity in payments.
It Increases Customer Confidence in Your Site / App
Digital identity verification methods can increase customer confidence in your site, if they are aware of them and made to understand them. If they know that you’re taking steps to prevent someone from using their ID to buy your products, they’re more willing to go through the necessary identification checks and trust your site with their information. Once you get past the initial hurdle, it is seen the same way as a “scanned / protected by famous antivirus software” logo on your website. If they’re paying with a thumbprint when they’re checking out, you’re minimizing the risk someone uses stolen information to buy something. (Note that you’re generally forced to refund the identity theft victim but won’t get the purchased items back.)
It Reduces Your Insurance Premiums
Installing know your customer systems manage biometric authentication will reduce your insurance premiums. After all, it reduces the odds that someone uses a stolen ID to buy ten thousand dollars’ worth of inventory. And it reduces the odds that you’re sued by a consumer group or fined by the government for failing to take adequate measures to protect customer data. On the other hand, everything you do to prevent potential lawsuits will reduce the odds that your insurance premiums spike because you’ve been sued.
It May Be a Legal Necessity
If you sell age-restricted items, biometric authentication that prevents minors from using stolen ID to buy products may be a legal necessity. If the additional levels of identity verification are not a legal necessity, it provides a layer of legal protection should you be audited by the state or prosecuted because a minor or someone pretending to be one bought something off your site.
It Is Convenient
Biometric payments are convenient for the consumer, and they speed up the checkout process for most consumers. This was demonstrated by the adoption of pay-by-thumbprint by multiple school districts. The children can buy their lunch without having to keep up with their lunch money. They don’t have to worry about thieves and bullies taking their lunch money, either. School lunch lines moved faster because the cashier wasn’t making change for students. And there’s less risk of theft by employees, since there’s less cash on hand to be stolen. For brick-and-mortar businesses, this means fewer trips to the bank to deposit cash and less time processing credit and debit cards.Contactless payment systems such as facial recognition systems have the added benefit of minimizing physical contact with touch screens and consoles. That was seen as both safe and convenient when the world was paralyzed by fears of a pandemic. In every case, customers don’t lose the ability to pay for things because they forgot their password or pin number.
