Customer Stories

AU10TICATOR SPOTLIGHT with Alan Heaffey, Lending and Credit Expert Leader, RCI Bank UK

AU10TIX reduced operational costs, increased efficiency and improved customer experience with new identity management solution for automotive finance provider RCI Financial Services.

AU10TIX was tasked to improve the identity verification process for customers financing vehicles with RCI Financial Services. The finance provider wanted to increase efficiency and accelerate back-office processes with automation as well as improve the front-end customer experience when purchasing a vehicle.

An end-to-end customer identification process was introduced, saving hours of manual checks and authentication practices. 80% of identity verification processes have been automated, delivering a tremendous decrease in operational costs and increase in customer experience efficiency.

Alan Heaffey

Credit and Lending Expert Leader at RCI Financial Services

We sat down with Alan Heaffey, Credit and Lending Expert Leader at RCI Financial Services, to explore the role of identity management technology in the car finance industry and to find out how AU10TIX’s solution has improved RCI’s digital authentication processes.

Can you tell us a little about RCI Financial Services?
RCI Financial Services is the automotive financial services specialist for five of the UK’s car brands: Renault, Nissan, Dacia, Infiniti, and Alpine.
We help our Alliance partners to distribute their cars worldwide, providing finance for individuals and businesses to hire, lease or purchase new and used vehicles. We also offer specialist insurance as well as wholesale funding facilities for parts and new and used vehicles for our dealer partners.
What services does RCI Financial Services utilize from AU10TIX?
We use identity verification, facial comparison and remote document verification services.
Why did RCI decide to partner with an identity management provider?
At the time, our dealership partners were manually validating customer identities with an ultraviolet light scan to check the authenticity of our customers’ driving licences. We needed to improve the process and avoid reliance on the dealerships photocopying and validating IDs. We required a more robust and paperless system with greater security and higher fraud prevention abilities.
We began to explore technology which would enable customers to take out finance on a vehicle remotely, and not relying on them being solely present in the dealership.
Why did RCI Financial Services choose AU10TIX as its IDV partner?
As well as being a market leader in ID verification technology, we also wanted our partner to support us with our implementation and integration, providing a seamless transition. We needed to implement a solution that would complement the launch of our e-signature pads and paperless document validation process. AU10TIX’s automated solutions seemed to be a perfect fit.

How did COVID impact your business, any challenges?
Prior to the outbreak of the pandemic, very few people were buying used cars online. As stay-at-home orders persisted, it highlighted that unless a customer was present in the dealership with the Dealer present you couldn’t fully process the Finance Agreement for new customers.
However, the fact that we could provide a remote signature service and complete the sale of a vehicle remotely gave us a competitive advantage in the used vehicle market.

Have you seen any improvements to your business during COVID?
Thanks to AU10TIX’s technology, we are now utilizing a fully automated, omnichannel customer authentication process. This enables us to carry on with business during various levels of lockdown. As online vehicles sales are increasing, we are now fully ready to offer customers a fully automated digital experience for buying used vehicles online.
How do you feel you can further enhance your customers experience while still complying to local KYC/AML regulations?
Our goal is to diminish frustration with simplified but compliant user experiences that continuously meet KYC/KYB authentication requirements. Even if a customer purchases a vehicle from a Dealership showroom, we will continue signing customers remotely and leveraging automated technology, in turn improving the efficiency of our internal processes to reduce costs and keep up with regulations.
Can you elaborate on how AU10TIX’s solution has improved your business efficiency?
The implementation of remote signing and automation has increased accuracy success rates and reduced false alarms. It has reduced the cost to the business of losing a customer due to inaccurate authentication and reduced the costs involved with manual checks by employees, too.
What are the longer-term objectives?
As a long-standing player in automotive financing, we are committed to providing innovative and affordable services that make our customers' everyday lives easier, like automated and remote access to mobility solutions.

With a sixty-year history in the UK, RCI Financial Services is the financial services specialist for five of the UK’s leading car brands: Renault, Nissan, Dacia, Infiniti and Alpine. As well as helping individuals and businesses to buy, hire or lease new and used vehicles from RCI’s partners, the company also offers specialist insurance and wholesale funding solutions for parts and new and used vehicles.

AU10TICATOR SPOTLIGHT with Alan Heaffey, Lending and Credit Expert Leader, RCI Bank UK

The Challenge

The Result

Alan Heaffey

Can you tell us a little about RCI Financial Services?

What services does RCI Financial Services utilize from AU10TIX?

Why did RCI decide to partner with an identity management provider?

Why did RCI Financial Services choose AU10TIX as its IDV partner?

How did COVID impact your business, any challenges?

Have you seen any improvements to your business during COVID?

How do you feel you can further enhance your customers experience while still complying to local KYC/AML regulations?

Can you elaborate on how AU10TIX’s solution has improved your business efficiency?

What are the longer-term objectives?

About RCI Financial Services Ltd