Until now, customer identification for financial services in Switzerland was only possible by including a money transfer via an existing bank account. From June 1, the partial revision of Circular 2016/7 “Video and online identification” will come into force, which will allow further automation of the online identification process going forward. With the accompanying security measure of ID validation via NFC (Near Field Communication), a reference transfer (“Bank-Ident”) can therefore be dispensed with for biometric identity documents. The aim is to adapt due diligence requirements for establishing business relationships via digital channels to technological developments and thus enable a seamless onboarding process. The multi-award-winning Robo-Ident technology from Hamburg-based Nect GmbH has already been using the additional security measures provided by the chip in biometric passports since 2020.
By expanding the permitted identification methods, online business for Swiss financial companies will be significantly simplified and, in the longer term, increased. No money transfers are now required for identification as part of customer onboarding. The revision of the regulations enables Nect to support the further digitization of the Swiss financial market with its in-house developed and patent-pending Robo-Ident technology.
Benny Bennet Jürgens, founder and CEO of Nect, and his team are ready to go: “The new regulation for the Swiss financial market gives companies a real opportunity to make the onboarding of customer relationships in online business user-friendly. We want to support them and be part of this milestone in the banking sector.”
Online identification via the Nect app using the chip of a biometric identity document, such as a passport, is extremely user-friendly: After a video recording of the passport and reading the chip via NFC, a selfie video follows for biometric matching. The user is then successfully identified. The entire process takes around two minutes, can be carried out anytime and anywhere, and involves no waiting times.
Through various checks, the AI-based technology ensures a high level of security for users and banks. The data read via NFC is verified using the passport recording and the selfie video. This is followed by verification of the authenticity and integrity of the data via the certificates of the issuing authorities (including ICAO & BSI master lists). In addition, the process checks the authenticity and timeliness of the recordings, the person’s liveness, and the legitimacy of the person. This allows attempted fraud to be detected early and prevented.
With this cooperation, Schleswig-Holstein is consistently continuing its modernization of digital infrastructure designed for sovereign, user-friendly solutions in order to avoid dependencies on external third-party providers. Nect fulfills this requirement through 100% in-house development, where all technologies, including the artificial intelligence used, are developed and operated in-house. Nect’s ePass procedure is the only highly secure remote identification procedure approved in the healthcare sector that is based on ISO 27001-certified, independent technology without third-party providers and enables the secure reading of identity documents from over 180 countries.
The avoidance of third-party cloud solutions and data processing without contractual relationships with third parties ensure complete technological control. This comprehensive sovereignty corresponds to Schleswig-Holstein’s ambition to act as a model for a secure and sovereign digital ecosystem and to equip public administration with modern, trustworthy identification solutions.
