Cross-border money transfers and banking services fintech Mama Money has partnered with identity solutions provider Incode for identity verification in cross-border payments. By incorporating extensive, multinational identity verification, the company looks to combat fraud and financial crime within the fintech industry while improving the customer experience and scalability across EMEA.

Identity verification and Mama Money – Incode collaboration impact With the launch of this solution, which leverages Incode’s omnichannel identity verification and authentication platform to verify customer identity automatically upon registration, Mama Money aims to make it easier for the customer’s account to be instantly activated. Based on the information provided in the press release, the partnership is among the first of the kind for an Africa-based cross-border payment service and is believed to set a new standard in Know Your Customer (KYC) processes that enable FIs to confirm a person’s ownership of the real-world identity they claim and to assess their potential risk. This is believed to mark an important milestone when talking about money transfer operators.

Per the announcement, while traditional verification methods are time-consuming and prone to human error, Incode’s technology enables the automatic verification of a customer’s identity in a matter of seconds, offering improved customer experience while increasing security and compliance. As Mama Money expands into new regions, Incode’s verification technology is set to assist the fintech platform with scaling at an expedited rate by decreasing customer registration time from hours to seconds. The announcement highlights World Bank information showcasing that in 2022, approximately USD 630 billion was sent home to low and middle-income countries by workers living abroad.

Additionally, more than 20% of international migrants and refugees come from either fragile or conflict-affected areas. As such, remittance providers are challenged with ensuring that their critical services are leveraged for essential needs ranging from healthcare to education and housing. Another challenge money transfer services are faced with is that identity documentation formats differ per country, making it increasingly complex to verify using traditional methods.

The collaboration looks to address these challenges by integrating Incode’s verification technology into Mama Money’s digital platform, and when customers register for Mama Money via the mobile application, their identity documentation is set to be verified leveraging facial recognition technology to ensure it matches the customers’ uploaded images. Additionally, at the point of registration, the system will screen the customer against a multitude of international sanction lists to help ensure that the platform is not used by high-risk individuals. CEO of Mama Money, Nicolas Vonthron said that the partnership with Incode marks another step taken by the company to ensure that its service is easier to use for customers and that its compliance and security systems are of high global standards.

Per their statement, Mama Money has the mission of making financial services increasingly accessible and affordable to underserved communities and is also taking ‘proactive steps’ to combatting financial crime, with the collaboration assisting them in achieving this. Ricardo Amper, CEO and Founder of Incode added that advanced biometric authentication powered by AI and machine learning can help ‘revolutionise’ cross-border transactions, stating that by integrating Passive Liveness Detection, Incode ensures customers’ identities are verified in a secure and convenient manner, fostering social and economic mobility globally. What is more, the spokesperson stated that in partnership with Mama Money, Incode looks to support the mission of promoting ‘universal accessibility and financial empowerment’, having a common vision of a world where trust and innovation drive financial inclusivity.

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