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eKYC

What Is eKYC?

eKYC (electronic Know Your Customer) is the digital form of KYC, allowing organizations to collect and verify customer information remotely.

While traditional KYC may involve physical documents, paper forms, or face-to-face checks, eKYC uses technologies such as automated document verification, biometric face matching, liveness detection, and database checks. Both pursue the same objective: establishing who the customer is and meeting applicable compliance requirements.

How Does eKYC Relate to CDD?

eKYC provides digital methods for identifying customers and verifying their identities, which are core elements of Customer Due Diligence (CDD). CDD has a broader scope that also includes understanding the purpose of the relationship, assessing customer risk, and conducting ongoing monitoring. The required depth of these checks depends on the customer’s risk and applicable regulatory requirements.

How Does eKYC Work?

A typical eKYC process includes these steps:

Identity document verification: Checks whether a submitted identity document is genuine, readable, complete, and consistent with its expected format.
Biometric verification: The applicant’s facial image is compared with the portrait retrieved from the document to determine whether they are likely to be the same person.
Liveness and anti-spoofing checks: The system assesses whether the face or document is physically present during the session and looks for presentation attacks involving printed images, screen replays, recordings, or other imitations.
Risk analysis: Device, network, location, behavioral, and session data can reveal inconsistencies or suspicious patterns that warrant additional verification or manual review.
Compliance screening: Customer information may be screened against sanctions and other relevant watchlists, checked for PEP status and adverse media, and assessed as part of the organisation’s AML controls.

Who Uses eKYC?

eKYC is widely used by banks, payment providers, cryptocurrency platforms, telecom operators, insurers, and other organizations that onboard customers remotely. The required checks depend on applicable law, the service offered, and the customer’s risk profile. Lower-risk cases may qualify for simplified measures where permitted, while standard-risk customers undergo regular checks. Higher-risk relationships may require enhanced due diligence (EDD), including additional identity evidence, source-of-funds or source-of-wealth checks, closer scrutiny, and higher-level approval.

How Can Regula Help with eKYC?

Reliable identity evidence is a central part of eKYC. Regula supports remote identity verification through document examination, biometric face matching, and liveness detection.

Regula Document Reader SDK verifies identity documents and extracts personal data for KYC and CDD records. It processes data from the visual zone using OCR, parses machine-readable zones (MRZs), and reads NFC/RFID chips in supported documents. Its database includes more than 16,500 document templates from 254 countries and territories.

Regula Face SDK performs a 1:1 comparison between the applicant’s facial image and the document portrait. Active liveness requires the applicant to follow an on-screen instruction, while passive liveness analyzes the capture without requiring an additional action. Together, face matching and liveness detection help establish that the applicant is present and matches the document holder. The verification results can be retained as part of the customer record to support compliance reviews, audits, and investigations.

How Is eKYC Different from Traditional KYC?

eKYC and traditional KYC pursue the same general objective: establishing who the customer is and meeting applicable compliance requirements. Traditional KYC may involve paper forms, physical documents, and face-to-face checks, while eKYC performs some or all of these steps remotely through digital technologies. These technologies may include automated document verification, biometric face matching, liveness detection, and database checks.

Is eKYC the Same as Digital Onboarding?

No. Digital onboarding is the broader process of registering and setting up a new customer through digital channels. eKYC covers the identity and compliance checks within that journey, while digital onboarding may also include application forms, product selection, agreements, account configuration, and activation.

What Information Is Collected During eKYC?

An eKYC process may collect personal details, contact information, identity document data, and a facial image. Depending on the service and risk level, the organization may also request proof of address, business information, or evidence concerning the source of funds. The exact requirements depend on the customer type, product, jurisdiction, and organization’s risk policy.

Why Is Liveness Detection Used in eKYC?

Liveness detection helps determine whether biometric or document evidence is physically present during remote verification. It can help identify spoofing attempts involving printed images, screen replays, recordings, or other imitations. Liveness detection is usually combined with document authenticity checks and face matching as part of a layered verification process.

Does eKYC Eliminate the Need for Enhanced Due Diligence?

No. eKYC digitizes customer identification and related checks, but it does not remove the need for enhanced due diligence when a relationship presents higher risk. Additional measures may include collecting further evidence, examining source of funds or wealth, obtaining higher-level approval, and applying closer monitoring.