If your company is required to meet Know Your Customer regulations, you may be interested in learning about new ways how to do so. One of how you could meet KYC requirements is through a customer’s cell phone.
Every cell phone contains a SIM card. “SIM” stands for subscriber identification module. The number associated with each SIM card is up to 22 digits long. It also includes a single check digital determined by an algorithm. Because each customer likely has a cell phone, the SIM card provides another data point that you could use to improve security and meet your KYC requirements.
Why Are Mobile Phones Useful When Verifying Subscriber Identity?
In the past, many people had landlines in their home. The numbers associated with landlines were quite public. You could look up a name in the Yellow Pages in a matter of seconds. However, as society began to shift away from landlines to mobile phones, people became a bit more guarded about the available information. Because a mobile phone is always with the primary user, it did not become standard to share numbers publicly.
This demonstrates the mobile phones could be entirely accurate when it comes to verifying subscriber identity. A mobile phone number and SIM card number are both unique to the customer, making them two excellent pieces of personally identifiable information.
The CEO of Trulioo, Stephen Ufford, recently said on a podcast that, “the power of mobile information can fuel the next generation of online experiences – opening accounts, sending money, and setting up merchant, bank, or peer to peer accounts. There’s so much power in mobile; it’s an extension to us these days.”
Thus, mobile phones are useful for verifying subscriber identity because they provide financial institutions with one more piece of information. The more information a financial institution requires to verify a customer, the less likelihood there is of fraud. Financial institutions can verify mobile phone subscriber identities easily, but it’s very challenging for hackers or criminals to replicate them.
The Future Of SIM Cards
If you’re not already using SIM cards to secure subscriber information, you may want to consider doing so immediately. All industry trends indicate that SIM cards are going to be the future of subscriber information. This is the case for a few reasons.
First and foremost, many governments have begun requiring consumers to register their SIM cards. This demonstrates that governments keyed in on the fact that SIM cards are useful for verification purposes. The more people who register their SIM cards, the more likely that it becomes a viable and sustainable tool for identifying subscribers.
Secondly, more and more business activity is going mobile. For instance, the European Union recently passed PSD2, which is meant to protect consumers who provide their banking information to third-party sites and applications. If consumers needed to submit their SIM card info to engage in such transactions, there’s a strong chance that the deal would become much more secure immediately.
Things To Consider Moving Forward
If you’re thinking about using SIM cards to verify subscriber identities, you’re going to need to make sure that your country has a database in place to which you’ll have access. This would be the only way to confirm that the SIM card the customer provided you is legitimate.
Some people are concerned about their privacy, especially if they are required to provide information that is stored in a database. Thus, it’s critical that you come up with a way to check SIM cards without storing user information. You should be able to run the provided SIM card through a database without actually holding on to the information.
Interested In New Ways To Verify Subscriber Identities?
If you’re looking for new ways to verify subscriber identities, you may want to look into implementing a SIM card system. SIM cards provide you with a concrete data point that is challenging to replicate. You are also aware that people have their phone on them at all times. You could potentially text them a code that they must enter before they proceed.
Those interested in SIM card systems should contact AU10Tix. At AU10Tix, we specialize in customer authentication. We work with companies around the globe to ensure they meet compliance and regulatory measures set forth by their local governments. No matter how these regulations may change in the future, we’ll always ensure that our products are up to date with the latest information.
It’s better that you begin to implement a SIM card verification system now rather than later. As SIM card verification becomes more accepted, more companies are going to move to have it installed as a part of their verification system package. When it comes to protecting your company and assets, it’s better that you be proactive rather than reactive.
