ARGOS KYC | BLOG

Hello, today I'm here to announce a significant upgrade to ARGOS eKYC's identity recognition capabilities. This update allows ARGOS eKYC to standardize for all languages and protocols, and to extract additional information based on the rules displayed on identity documents of various countries.

The original ARGOS eKYC had several limitations.

These phenomena are due to the different notation and printing methods formed according to the settled culture and communication methods of each country, and the direct extraction of such notation methods by Template OCR made it difficult to use them in a standardized way.

However, with this update, ARGOS KYC has overcome these limitations.

Now, ARGOS eKYC, through a significant update that interprets each country's notation method and standardizes it, allows faster and more accurate identity verification for some local IDs that had been difficult to support.

It can now support all identity documents that have different notations from the international standard (ISO), such as Arabic and Japanese.

In the world of real estate, "Know Your Customer" (KYC) is an important concept. It's not only about knowing who you're doing business with, but also making sure that they are legitimate and trustworthy. In this blog post, we'll explore what KYC means in the context of real estate and why it's so important.

KYC, or Know Your Customer, is a process that financial organizations use to collect and analyze information regarding their customers in order to verify the identity of new customers, mitigate financial risks, and detect potential criminal activities. KYC is particularly relevant in the real estate industry where investors and property buyers must be vetted to ensure the safety of all parties involved. Through KYC, real estate companies can review documents for authenticity, check for any suspicious behaviors or connections among their customers, and prevent money laundering. KYC helps make sure both sides have immense trust when engaging with each other. When going through KYC, AML(Anti-Money Laundering) screening is also done to check if the person is free from any money laundering risks.

By having reliable records about customers during onboarding, businesses can quickly detect suspicious financial or identity activities and onboard new customers faster for increased conversion rates. Additionally, KYC compliance adds greater trust to customer relationships by demonstrating a company's commitment to security and data privacy best practices. Utilizing KYC technology not only benefits the customer experience but also provides credibility and strengthens trust in the business itself. All these advantages ultimately add up to tremendous value for real estate businesses when used effectively.

The use of KYC provides a growing number of benefits for real estate businesses.

Team ARGOS has formed an official partnership with EZswap! ARGOS KYC would be applied for NFT users to support building a healthier community through user verification. EZswap is the first NFT DEX that uses AMM to solve NFT liquidity. And ARGOS KYC is here to help verify users for a healthier community.

Are you interested in creating a reliable community? Wanting to apply KYC for business related to NFT? ARGOS KYC can help you to solve hassle work. Contact the ARGOS team for a FREE demo.

Just like blockchain technology has shown the opportunity for decentralization in the finance industry and made the term DeFi a lot more common, it also applies to the gaming industry. In the game industry, the term GameFi is here. GameFi, Play To Earn(P2E), NFTs, blockchain game, and the crypto game holds similar definition, playing games on the blockchain.

If you are a game lover, you can’t disagree with how blockchain technology and NFTs flipped the whole gaming anatomy. Blockchain gaming offers players the opportunity to earn rewards or assets in the game and which players can change to fiat money. The more you play, the more assets you are able to collect, hence the more money you make. As the ecosystem of P2E games is blockchain-based, it shares similar characteristics with any industry that uses blockchain. What you know about the pros and cons of blockchain-based services such as finance, the P2E industry also experiences it.

In order to play a P2E game, players need to log in with a wallet. The wallet means decentralized and blockchain-based wallets such as MetaMask and WalletConnect. This is due to the main characteristics of P2E games, buying items or earning rewards in the form of cryptocurrency. For cryptocurrency or NFTs, crypto wallets are needed. And here game service providers can experience one type of scam: the user's onboarding scam. Due to the crypto wallet feature, one person can easily hold numerous wallets.

When creating crypto wallets, users can make multiple wallets. And this is a challenge to the game service provider as it cannot distinguish whether a particular person has created an account. This can be a troublesome matter especially when there is a particular event on creating accounts. For example, giving rewards such as coins or points when creating accounts can be a common event. As a way to promote and gather new users, game service providers can hold various types of rewarding events.

It is impossible to verify who is who as users would be creating accounts and joining the new service using crypto wallets. Blockchain-based wallets hold distinct characteristics: anonymity. Just like the coin has two sides, it holds pros and cons. From the perspective of a game service provider, it may become troublesome as there are users that would be abusing.

Is there a way to prevent anonymous wallets scam? Yes, with ARGOS ID it is possible. ARGOS ID is a solution for verifying blockchain wallets. When creating ARGOS ID, online KYC is included. After that, users receive a unique number, a 16-digit provided by ARGOS ID. The unique number becomes a source distinguishing users abusing crypto wallets.

ARGOS ID team will be at Blockchain Expo Global in London! (1-2 Dec)

Happy to announce that ARGOS ID team will be at the London Olympia on 1-2 December 2022 to attend the world-leading Blockchain Expo Global event. During two days event, there will be a total of 6 events with IoT (Co-Locating 5G), AI & Big Data, Cyber Security & Cloud, and Digital Transformation Week with the shared location.

The Blockchain conference agenda will present a series of expert keynotes, interactive panel discussions, and solution-based case studies. All exploring the key industries that are set to be disrupted the most by this new technology, including; legal sectors, retail, financial services, healthcare, insurance, energy, music, government, real estate, and more. The Blockchain Expo will showcase the most cutting-edge technologies from more than 200 exhibitors and provide insight from over 250 speakers sharing their unparalleled industry knowledge and real-life experiences. (Source: https://www.blockchain-expo.com)

ARGOS team is excited to share ARGOS ID, our newly launched Travel Rule compliance solution with businesses that may be looking for it at the moment. ARGOS ID is a crypto regulatory Travel Rule compliance solution specializing in verifying unhosted wallets. ARGOS ID helps on verifying crypto wallet holders’ information simply, quickly, and fast. With ARGOS ID, verifying who holds the non-custodial wallets becomes simple.

ARGOS ID helps businesses related to blockchain, crypto, NFT, or Web 3 to stay compliant with regulations that are starting to come into action. Obtaining beneficiary and originator information with virtual asset(VA) transfers is crucial for VASPs(Virtual Asset Service Providers) in order to stay compliant with FATF’s Travel Rule guidance. Knowing the information related to virtual asset wire transfers is essential, especially for wallets that are unhosted and non-custodial.

ARGOS ID is a Travel Rule solution for verifying unhosted wallets. The service brings full coverage on verifying non-custodial wallets fast and seamlessly. Whether you are one of the businesses eagerly looking or just browsing, come and visit the ARGOS ID booth at 179 in Blockchain Expo Global. We would be more than happy to talk in person and explain our service in depth.

Make Unhosted Wallets Compliant with ARGOS ID!

Contact ARGOS team for FREE Demo

ARGOS team attended the BWB 2022 in Busan, Korea last weekend. The BWB(Blockchain Week in Busan) 2022 is a global conference that was held on Oct 27 - Oct 29 with the “Blockchain, City, and Life” theme. Busan city is also known as a global blockchain hub city, is greatly supporting the blockchain industry to build a K-blockchain industry ecosystem. The event has been renamed from ‘NFT BUSAN 2021’ to ‘BWB 2022’ as it aims to focus on building a sound city that supports the blockchain industry.

ARGOS team has met numerous future clients and partners during the event. We were happy to see how many companies have been finding their own method to verify personal wallets. We were able to find out that verifying unhosted wallets from various blockchain networks is still a challenging task for many companies.

We have seen the opportunity during this event that ARGOS ID is a cost-efficient, time-saving, and useful tool for verifying unidentified wallets. Companies that are VASPs(Virtual Asset Service Providers), wallet providers, and related to similar services, found ARGOS ID a cost-effective solution.

Currently, ARGOS ID supports five blockchain networks, Ethereum, Solana, Binance Smart Chain, Polygon, and Klaytn. It can be easily connected through MetaMask, WalletConnect, and Phantom. We provide a simple WEB SDK through Javascript which makes businesses to adapt the solution easily and fast.

Hope to meet more potential clients and partners in other events domestically and internationally.

Introducing crypto Travel Rule solution for verifying unhosted wallets. ARGOS ID helps on verifying the wallet holder’s information simply, easily, and fast. With ARGOS ID, verifying who holds the non-custodial wallets becomes simple. Obtaining beneficiary and originator information with virtual asset(VA) transfers is crucial for VASPs(Virtual Asset Service Providers) in order to stay compliant with FATF’s Travel Rule guidance. Knowing the information related to virtual asset wire transfers is essential, especially for wallets that are unhosted and non-custodial.

ARGOS ID seamlessly connects personal wallet via browser. ARGOS ID support 5 blockchain networks and 3 crypto wallets. Available blockchain networks are Ethereum, Solana, Binance Smart Chain, Polygon, and Klaytn, and MetaMask, Phantom, and WalletConnect for crypto wallets.

Let users experience seamless connections with ARGOS ID while your business stays compliant with the FATF’s Travel Rule guidance with the aim of conducting sanctions screening and detecting suspicious transactions.

Make Unhosted Wallets Compliant

The MARS is operating the metaverse project called the MRST Mining APP by developing a metaverse game platform with the setting background in the Mars. The MRST Mining APP is a mobile app which users can mine MRST(Mars Token) tokens.

The Mars has developed the metaverse with the background in the Mars. At the metaverse ‘Mars’, users can purchase the land through NFT. In the purchased land, users can build a building or sell it after gaining a profit just like the real estate business in real life. In addition, after decorating the interior of the building, users can sell as many spaces or floors as they want. And users can gain profits and incomes from building sales and rentals.

Miners who have mined more than 1,000 MRSTs within the MRST Mining APP must first go through the KYC verification. KYC, an abbreviation of Know Your Customer, is an online identity verification solution that helps on preventing funds from using on illicit financial activities including money laundering.

Previously, the Mars provided KYC identity verification solutions only supporting the passport. Passport is great as it has broad coverage to include miners around the world. For the convenience of global miners, KYC with a passport-only process does not seem such a problem. However, it is regarded as somewhat inconvenient when not every user holds a passport due to numerous reasons. In order to provide broader options for selecting identity document types, the Mars has adopted ARGOS KYC for their updated KYC policy. ARGOS KYC covers most of the government-issued IDs from over 210 countries including driver's licenses and passports.

Words explained

Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is an independent inter-governmental body that develops and promotes policies to protect the global financial system against money laundering, terrorist financing, and more. The FATF Recommendations are recognized as the global anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CFT) standard.

Travel rule is a process that takes and records the information regarding the money transfer. It requires financial institutions to know the money wire information from both the originator and the beneficiary. Once the necessary information is shared with each bank, it will release the funds at the end destination. The rule was implemented with the aim to detect criminals, terrorists, and sanctioned individuals regarding suspicious fund transactions. Money can be used for different purposes, sometimes used on financing illegal actions. Travel rule is one of many methods to detect suspicious activities. Under the FATF guidance, the ‘Travel Rule’ applies to any transaction over USD/EUR 1000.

Now with the dramatic rise and expansion of the cryptocurrency industry, FATF has expanded the same obligations to virtual asset and virtual asset service providers. Here is what FATF’s Recommendation 15 and 16 explains in relation to virtual assets and travel rule.

As the gig economy has gained the spotlight, the number of gig workers such as freelancers, independent contractors, project-based workers, and temporary or part-time workers has increased. The unique trait of gig workers’ work environment such as being mobile in place and being flexible during working hours has made the demand on the coworking space. Coworking space is a great option for freelancers as they can access an office that is located in various spots and operate 24/7. If the shared workplace company owns multiple locations, it becomes more attractive to gig workers who work by moving around different places and cities with flexible business hours.

Not only gig workers but also startup companies can utilize the coworking office as it offers a furnished environment. This decreases the burden for early-stage companies which do not wish to spend the expenses on office supplies in the beginning.

However, just like the coin has both sides, coworking spaces also possess a downside. There are distractions, noise, unavailability of personalization, low privacy, and most importantly, security and safety issue. This is due to the main feature of a shared office place, having to use common areas such as cafes, meeting rooms, lounges, and conference rooms with other people.

When it comes to the positive feature of a 24/7 access office, regardless of the benefit of the ability to work whenever one wants, safety can become an important factor. During off-work hours, security issues at coworking spaces may include physical security and technological security. Overcoming and solving these numerous challenges in the current coworking space are arising.

As a solution provider on global identity verification, holding the right technology regarding the bio-recognition system is crucial. Argos KYC provides the KYC and AML solution where all the process is done without direct contact. This is possible through various technologies, including OCR technology, liveness detection, and face verification. Face verification is crucial as it works as a key tool for the seamless KYC process.

In order to improve the KYC procedure, especially in the face comparison and verification, Argos KYC constantly strives on gaining more delicate and accurate skills in face recognition. This technology is applied during the face comparison process after submitting the ID card and the selfie. We are proud to inform our potential clients and customers that Argos KYC holds KISA(Korea Internet & Security Agency) biometric system performance test certificate as of May 2022.

Biometric performance test certification regarding biometric performance is crucial as Argos KYC provides identity verification solutions only through an online process. KYC validation results such as approved, rejected, pending, or incomplete is based on the information collected from the user side, holding the proper technique is a significant factor.

KISA, Korea Internet & Security Agency, is an institution that tests, evaluates, and certifies algorithm performance, standard conformance, and counterfeit defense performance. KISA aims at performance with the intention to strengthen the competitiveness of biometric systems. The biometric performance test is conducted at the Biometrics Information Testing Center (K-NBTC) and evaluates four biometric algorithms: face, fingerprint, vein, and iris. KISA functions similar to NIST(National Institute of Standards and Technology) in the USA.

Have you ever got confused about which ID cards to use when doing KYC? Here is a short and easy way to remember which ID cards are good to use for the online KYC process.

When going through KYC, identity verification solution provider such as Argos KYC asks for a valid ID card to start and finish the KYC process. There are numerous ID types in each country, but when doing KYC only government-issued ID cards with a face photo are accepted.

KYC is verifying whether the person is the one who they say is by comparing the face on the ID card and the submitted selfie photo. The ID documents should be issued by the government and must include a face photo.

When looking for an online identity verification solution, it is important to know how many countries the KYC provider can offer. The coverage number is a crucial point for companies as the number signifies how many countries’ IDs can be covered for identity verification. This greatly matters to companies targeting global users. Currently, Argos KYC can provide an automatic KYC process of IDs issued from more than 210 countries around the world.

We provide a combination of automatic process and manual processes. Thanks to the active AI technology usage during the KYC process, users can go through smooth and hassle-free KYC steps. One of the ways is using the OCR ID Template. OCR technology is applied in the KYC solution and it automatically extracts information from the ID card. This decreases the KYC process time as users do not have to type every information such as name, date of birth, gender, and nationality.

Argos KYC is proud to announce to companies looking for a broad coverage spectrum from the KYC service provider. We currently can provide coverage for more than 210 countries. Also, Argos supports 94 multi-languages for the OCR. Regardless of the age or the length of the name, anyone can easily go through KYC and complete the process.

Thinking about the users’ convenience is important. But doing it right is also important. Argos puts the user's convenience first but also does not forget about the accuracy. Use the right KYC service to global users. Argos KYC got you covered!

When Argos KYC goes through AML screening on the verified KYC individuals, we use various tools and methods on verifying whether the person is screened from the AML database. We have a default number of 90 when screening the individual from the AML database. The number is high enough to look carefully for any possibilities of involvement with money laundering or terrorist financing.

The higher the threshold setting number is, the lower possibility for companies on meeting individuals who may be related to money laundering. However, this may refer to more results on the AML report provided by Argos KYC. The threshold number is recommended to be set at 90, but the number can be changed depending on the company’s decision.

Let us explain how we go through the AML database from the individual information after the completed KYC. Argos KYC utilizes three factors when searching the KYC applicant name from the AML Database.

During the KYC process, users need to provide a valid ID to begin the KYC. OCR technology will scan the information shown on the government-issued ID card. Not only that, AI technology will compare and match the similarity of the user’s face between the ID card and a selfie photo.

Let us clarify what a valid ID means and the condition.

A valid ID document must include a face photo, full name, date, and year of birth. If the necessary information is divided into the front and back of your ID card, users need to take pictures of both sides.

ID cards need to be written in English Alphabet, Korean, Chinese, and Cyrillic Alphabet. ID cards written in languages other than mentioned alphabets may be rejected. But if the approvable character is written aside, it is acceptable. Also, ID information must be printed on the document. Handwritten ID cards will be rejected.

There is four KYC status when the end-users finish submitting KYC - approved, rejected, pending, and incomplete. Argos KYC tries to provide a seamless KYC process for users to feel comfortable and easy but also uses various AI technology to distinguish any false users. Let’s go through the four results end users may receive at the end of the KYC.

KYC is approved. This means the submitted information by the users was in the match. AI technology detects the face from the ID card and a selfie image. Once the match result shows a high percentage, KYC will be approved automatically.

The KYC is rejected. We let the users know the reason why KYC got rejected.

No matter where you are at, what time you are at, close to real-time KYC check is possible with Argos KYC. Thanks to the automatic KYC process system along with OCR technology, Argos KYC can provide prompt and accurate KYC and AML screening results.

With our updated KYC 2.0 version, Argos KYC can provide an automated KYC process. Our clients can experience the fast speed in the process both from the API and liveform. We can proudly say that automatic KYC operation is one of the largest merits as not many KYC solution providers can offer it. So what can you expect? Fast in the process result as there is no need to wait for more than 1 day. Let your users experience the prompt KYC process and enable them to enjoy your service in time.

Argos KYC puts our clients’ and users’ convenience in the first place. This is why we utilize OCR technology. OCR is converting typed, handwritten, or printed text into machine-encoded text. It reads the text and automatically transfers it into digital format. OCR technology enhances the user's convenience as they do not need to type every single piece of information.

Is your company looking for a KYC solution provider? If your business already knows the importance of KYC(Know Your Customer), then you may be in the step of choosing which solution provider to use.

There are numerous KYC and AML screening solution providers, and Argos KYC is one of them. Argos KYC focuses on providing the right KYC service to our clients. This includes convenience in using the KYC process and accessing the information directly from the dashboard.

Argos KYC currently provides a seamless KYC process for the user's convenience. Know Your Customer may be an obligation for some users and may be an option for others. No matter what is the reason to apply KYC for your business, Argos KYC focuses on providing seamless KYC.

Making the process smooth for the users has a few challenges. The process should not ask too many questions or request excessive actions from the users.

We have come to the final post regarding NFTs, the Non-Fungible Tokens. Continuing from previous posts regarding the definition, types, and the industry in which NFTs are showing their value, let us now talk about the NFTs and the possibility of money laundering, and therefore the necessity of the KYC(Know Your Customer) process.

NFTs are great to art lovers, art piece collectors, and content creators as NFT itself hold the proof of ownership, a built-in authentication. Art piece information that is held on the blockchain makes clear who owns the art piece. However, this also makes the space vulnerable to money laundering.

According to FATF(Financial Action Task Force), an intergovernmental organization founded to combat money laundering, NFTs are generally not considered virtual assets. However, it is important to consider the nature of the NFT and its function in practice. Some NFTs do not appear to constitute virtual assets but may fall under the virtual assets definition if they are to be used for payment or investment purposes.

When buying and selling virtual assets through verified virtual asset service providers (VASPs), users do need to go through the KYC process. Know Your Customer(KYC) process is required before the beginning of the transactions to identify the user.

Argos KYC is a global company providing an online identity verification solution known as KYC(Know Your Customer). Argos KYC offers global coverage of identifying individuals from over 210 countries with AI technology. The solution can verify over 1,600 ID documents with machine learning and 4,000 ID documents with expert reviews. Argos KYC can help companies who need international coverage to identify anyone at any time anywhere.

Providing a liveness detection upon selfie data submission doubles the reliability of the verifying process. Liveness technology can detect whether the selfie photo is taken in real-time or not. Argos KYC provides easy, fast, and reliable identity verification solutions with a smooth and hassle-free KYC experience.

Emmersion aims to unlock life-changing employment opportunities for people through an AI-driven, fully-automated language assessment and analytics solution. With Emmersion, companies that need to hire qualified and experienced candidates can identify them through automated language assessment tools. Emmersion provides accurate and immediate reports in languages including English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Italian, Mandarin and Japanese.

Applying an online identity verification solution provided by Argos KYC will ensure that the person who registered the language screening process is truly the one who is behind the monitor. This will support Emmersion in providing a reliable service to corporate HR, contact centers, language companies, and academia. Verifying identities can provide a reliable pool of candidates who have done a language ability test.

The process can be incorporated with  Emmersion in a simple and hassle-free way. When a user registers with Emmersion, they would be asked to do two actions. 1) Take a photo of the ID and 2) take a selfie. The user needs to provide a valid ID such as a passport or driver's license. Upon submission, Argos KYC will extract the information from the ID document - name, sex, date of birth, and a photo. When a selfie is taken, Argos KYC AI technology can detect and compare the face from the selfie and a submitted ID respectively.

With the AI technology used by Argos KYC, persons taking Emmersion assessments can be identified at any time anywhere with high reliability.

The movement in cryptocurrencies is showing popularity among investors. As the interest in cryptocurrency increases, governments around various nations are taking action. One of the actions is applying compliances that can verify identities.

Due to the nature of the cryptocurrency, it is hard to regulate - a decentralized form of finance and an anonymous form of currency. The unique trait of the cryptocurrency industry includes the potential of financing terrorism and money laundering. It's understandable that governments are requiring firms that are in cryptocurrency-related services to register and demonstrate KYC checks.

To combat the fraudulent transactions that may have the possibility of money laundering or financing terrorism, the ID verification system is highly requested by numerous governments. Know Your Customer(KYC) is an ideal system to verify identities. KYC checks include submitting ID cards with real-time personal face photos.

The ID verification system for KYC checks is a simple and hassle-free process. The process verifies two main important values: ID cards and a selfie photo. Argos KYC believes that the KYC process and verifying identities can provide a safer environment in the current rise of interest in cryptocurrency.

Have you read our previous posts regarding why photos are widely used in the online identity verification process? This makes the KYC process simple and easy for people who need the verification can access without difficulties.

Now, we have come to the conclusion and to our last point on why comparing selfie face photo to ID photos work strongly as a tool to verify identities.

There are three main reasons why Argos KYC uses selfie verification for an online KYC (Know Your Customer). We have explained the first reason on 'Why Selfie ID Verification for KYC'. You can read it here.

In this post, we will cover the second reason why selfie verification is good enough to go through the KYC although there is a much stronger tool on identification such as fingerprint and iris.

Have you wondered what is the coverage for the global KYC solution?

Argos KYC provides a KYC solution that covers over 200 countries. That means you can verify onboarding customers' identities without any concern.

There are various languages to distinguish but you do not have to worry about it. This is because Argos KYC runs an AI technology for the verification process. Also, information on the ID is auto-extracted with the OCR tool. There are human experts who can give extra reliability to the KYC results. Therefore, the combination of AI technology and expert review makes the verifying process strong and reliable.

By machine learning, Argos KYC can verify 1,400 ID documents automatically. This includes AI technology and the OCR tool. When human experts are added, 4,000 ID documents can be verified. The number Argos KYC can verify by nationality has more than 200 countries.

So if your business is providing a global service and needs to verify global customers, Argos KYC can cover your region spectrum. Covering more than 200 countries, we can assist your business verification coverage. No matter where your customers are, identify anyone at any time anywhere.

Are you one of the businesses that want to know the detailed process of KYC? Let us help you with what steps are needed on Know Your Customer process, on the business side and the user side.

Knowing who you are doing business with is important. It provides a trustworthy environment for both the business and the user. The revenue increase is crucial, but doing so in a reliable and safe environment is also important.

Once decided to verify future customers' identities, then this is what you need to do. When your customers onboard, you let them go through a seamless KYC process provided by Argos KYC.

The KYC process itself usually takes less than 5 minutes.

As Argos KYC can support verifying more than 4,000 ID documents from 193 countries around the world, global coverage is possible. So from where in the world your potential customers are, Argos KYC can support your business in verifying clients' identities.

We all are familiar with the term Know Your Customer(KYC) and its process when we think of going to the bank to open an account. Simply say, it is identifying and verifying you. Places like banks need to make sure that you are who you really are. The way to verify you, or Know Your Customer Process, includes ID card check, face verification, and document check such as proof of address.

As banks must meet the KYC compliances, the process of knowing their customers are crucial. The KYC procedure tells if the person is genuinely the same as the person in the document. Additionally, the banks can verify whether the person is safe from any money laundering-related possibilities.

Once only thought it was possible and reliable, having myself verified as who I am through face-to-face, is now transitioning to online check, the online KYC.

The Online Know Your Customer (or sometimes Know Your Client) process is becoming more prevalent since the advent of Covid 19. People are more familiar with online activities. Online gathering, virtual learning, online shopping, online meeting, and online banking all have become major activities in our lives ever since.

Do you remember your visit to the bank branch when opening an account? As banks care about identity seriously, an actual visit to a branch was usually required before becoming a bank customer. As an individual, you would visit a bank and provide a valid ID. The bank staff would gather all the necessary information provided from the customer side to check the validity. In one word, bank staff and bank customers had to be at the same time in the same place.

However, thanks to the internet, now customers can create a bank account online. In the US, as long as the customers are 18 years or older and legal U.S. residents, online registration is available. What customers need to provide is 1) name, 2) date of birth, 3) Social Security Number, 4) phone number 5) email address, 6) physical U.S. address, 7) and a valid, government-issued photo ID such as driver's license if required during the online application. In other words, bank staff and bank customers do not need to be at the same time in the same place anymore. As long as the provided information is well prepared and clear, opening a bank account online became possible. So all these activities required by the bank through an actual visit to a financial center now have become possible online.

The process of Know Your Customer to verify who they say to be is asked by the business before starting the transaction. What has been added to the process is that once considered only available on a face-to-face KYC procedure has now become possible online. In other words, the traditional method of verifying a user has now transferred online.

Let's look at how you can join as a new customer for a specific business. The following steps are required by the users/customers side.

Anti-Money Laundering(AML) is the act of screening a person on a watchlist before onboarding into business and monitoring any suspicious activities related to money laundering. The former action requires screening the person from the global AML database. By screening the potential users, businesses can stay compliant with safe and trustworthy users. The latter action is detecting any suspicious transactions from the potential users. Money laundering is a type of financial crime referred to as a suspicious activity. It aims to conceal the crime and deter the origin of the money. Money laundering disguises as if the money was from legitimate actions when it is not, and that's why AML aims to prevent any illegal actions in finance.

Under the mission to devise international standards on preventing money laundering, group of countries around the world formed the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). FATF was formed with multiple countries and organizations in 1989, and now has 39 members consisting of 37 member jurisdictions and 2 regional organizations. After the 9/11 attack in the US in 2011, FATF expanded its mandate to include combating terrorist financing.

As global Anti-Money Laundering(AML) regulations are getting more stringent, nations are forming compliance organizations to combat any illegal finance activities including financing terrorism and organized crime. Bank Secrecy Act in the USA, EU Anti-Money Laundering Directives(AMLD), and FINMA Anti-Money Laundering Act in Switzerland to name a few.

Governments fight against money laundering and terrorist financing by applying AML regulations and compliances on financial companies. That is why AML regulations require financial institutions to check customers before joining the business and to get checked from the watchlist database. In addition, the regulation commands finance firms to monitor customers' transactions and report on any suspicious financial activities. This way financial institutions can monitor and combat illegal money transfers. Activities do not limit to financing terrorism, but also include market manipulation, trade in illegal goods, fraud, corruption of public funds, tax evasion, bribery, and organized crime.

Argos KYC team has visited SaaStr Annual 2021: The World's #1 cloud gathering in San Francisco from September 27-29, 2021 for 3 full days. Argos KYC was the one and only company to join the SaaStr Annual 2021 event as an identity verification company.

It was time for us to meet numerous SaaS companies where identity verification service can work as a vital part of the operation. The identity verification industry itself may feel new but it is a rising issue for businesses not only in banking and financial services but also to non-financial industries such as eCommerce and shared economy.

Please contact us for how verifying identity could benefit your business and also secure you from any potential threats.

Are you an Amazon user? Do you buy often from Amazon? If you have the experience of buying products from Amazon, have you ever doubted whether your purchase is going to be wrong? It's quite hard to have question marks on the purchase you made on Amazon. We believe this is due to Amazon's policy towards the seller. Amazon requires a high standard of identity verification including many papers submitted.

Let's take a deep look at becoming an Amazon seller. Amazon requires an identity check from the seller by requesting numerous documents. The documents include 1) full valid passport, 2) National Identity Cards, 3) Utility Bill, Bank Statement or Credit Card Statement addressed to the individual and dated from the past 90 days. These papers are required if you want to register as individual sellers and business owners.

Amazon explains the process is required by law for the use of a payment account. 'As per European Regulations and Laws, verifying your identity is required to allow you to use our payment service.' Therefore, if the required documents and information are not provided, then it will be unable to register as a seller on Amazon.

Besides what Amazon says about the reason for requiring identity verification to sellers, we believe that this is to protect any unethical and illicit behaviors from anonymous. Scientists have found a tendency for many people to act rudely, aggressively, or illegally when their faces and names are hidden. So for the protection of the brand's reputation from any possible claims due to misbehaving sellers on online, e-commerce platforms such as Amazon are increasing for a transparent environment.

Developing credibility towards the brand itself, in the end, provides a safe and sound environment for both the seller and the users. Customers can enjoy the safe and trustworthy platform where you know you are being protected. Amazon believes transparency can prevent any counterfeit actions from the seller.

Therefore, large numbers of companies are looking for a KYC solution provider covering the identity verification process on customer documents, face-matching selfies, and checking the KYC/AML watchlists. Save your time and energy on checking all those individual documents by yourself. Implement a KYC solution provider where all your concerns are covered. Contact Argos KYC as we got you covered.