FacePhi Extends Korean Presence With Investment Bank Deployment

“KIS’s confidence in applying our technology for its onboarding services is a great endorsement for Facephi, which is strengthening its position as one of the most versatile biometric technology providers in Korea.” – Dongpyo Hong, CEO, FacePhi APAC

Korea Investment & Securities (KIS) has become FacePhi’s latest client in South Korea. The investment bank has opted to use the latter’s selfie-based identity verification technology in its mobile onboarding process, eliminating the need to ask new clients to deposit a nominal fee during the account opening process.

With FacePhi’s solution, KIS clients can upload a selfie along with images of their official identity documents in order to verify that they are who they claim to be. FacePhi’s biometric tech uses facial recognition to match the end user’s selfie to their ID, confirming the biographic information shown on the latter.

It also features passive liveness detection, ensuring that the end user really is present during the authentication process, and isn’t trying to pose as someone else using a static image.

The implementation represents an important win in FacePhi’s efforts at global expansion. While the company has established a strong presence in its home country of Spain and the Latin American region, it has sought to extend its international reach into new areas, with the opening of a South Korean office in 2019 having been a key early step.

The KIS deployment comes after PeopleFund, a Korean startup offering a peer-to-peer lending platform, implemented FacePhi’s selfie onboarding technology last month. In a statement announcing the KIS partnership, FacePhi asserted that it’s “considered the best financial investment company in Korea”, and noted that it’s looking to expand its reach in Asia and beyond.

“KIS’s confidence in applying our technology for its onboarding services is a great endorsement for Facephi, which is strengthening its position as one of the most versatile biometric technology providers in Korea,” said FacePhi APAC CEO Dongpyo Hong.

FacePhi recently reported its best fiscal year yet, with revenues of €22.2 million in 2022 – a 69 percent year-over-year increase – and a positive EBITDA of €4.31 million.

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February 16, 2023 – by Alex Perala