Emirates NBD introduces contactless ID verification to open new accounts

By Edil Corneille

New customers of Emirates NBD can now have their identity documents verified using contactless NFC technology when opening a bank account via the bank’s Mobile Banking App. Emirates NBD is a banking group in the MENAT (Middle East, North Africa and Turkey) region.

Called the TruID solution, the bank uses NFC technology to read information from embedded chips in the documents and seamlessly extract data to autofill a digital account application. The customer is then prompted to take a ‘selfie’ (a self-picture taken by the customer) within the app to complete the process.

Emirates NBD’s TruID digital identity verification solution was developed as part of the bank’s collaboration with FinTechs – VisionLabs and Smart Engines. Apple users can have their biometric passports read using the NFC technology, while Android users can avail electronic reading of both Emirates ID and their biometric passports.

Commenting on the introduction of Emirates NBD’s TruID digital identity verification solution, Suvo Sarkar, Senior Executive Vice President and Head of Retail Banking and Wealth Management said: “As a front-runner in digital banking innovation, Emirates NBD continues to leverage technology to deliver superior customer experiences. Our mobile account opening service is being increasingly used by customers to open a new account instantly from their smartphones and this new verification solution ensures a more secure and robust process.”

Anton Nazarkin, International Development Director at VisionLabs B.V., while commenting on the collaboration with Emirates NBD, said: “I am proud that VisionLabs has become a part of the bank’s technology stack and would like to thank Emirates NBD team for their efforts in creating this next generation banking solution with us. I am sure that the positive experience with our KYC solution will enable further expansion of services based on biometrics in the bank for its customers and employees.”

Nikita Arlazarov, Chief Financial Officer at Smart Engines, added: “Entering the Middle East market with Emirates NBD is an important milestone for us and I thank them for their trust in us. Not only were we able to support and fine tune data extraction for region-specific ID types, we have also developed a technology for Arabic character recognition in the process.”

The bank has mentioned that as an early mover in banking digitisation and innovation, Emirates NBD’s advanced digital infrastructure has enabled it to continue offering seamless banking services to customers despite COVID-19 related restrictions.