Spending on digital identity verification by businesses will reach $16.7 billion in 2026, from $9.4 billion in 2021, according to new research from Juniper.
The growth in spending is fuelled by the elevated focus on remote onboarding. Digital identity verification is where identity is checked using digitally verifiable elements, such as selfie scans, address checks and knowledge-based authentication.
Research co-author, Vladimir Surovkin, commented: “Digital-only banks have shown that fully digital Know Your Customer can work and is very engaging for the user, therefore the pressure is on for traditional banks to deploy new identity verification services. Managing this transition quickly, and getting the user convenience/security balance right will determine overall success.”
The research identified that, while the pandemic accelerated digital transformation, many industries had already embarked on the process of increasing digitisation.
Juniper’s research therefore recommended seamless digital onboarding as the minimum requirement in the post-pandemic environment, with user expectations demanding processes that are both low friction and high security; necessitating AI use for ongoing, behavioural analytics.
Furthermore, the new research, Digital Identity Verification: Key Opportunities, Vendor Strategies & Market Forecasts 2021-2026 market research, also found that banking and financial services will account for almost 62% of digital identity verification spend by businesses by 2026.
The research also found that the global volume of identity verification checks will exceed 92 billion in 2026, from 45 billion in 2021. Additionally, it was identified that while banking & financial services are major drivers of this growth, the broadening of identity verification into areas including remote onboarding for mobile network operators or for digital gambling will create significant opportunities for vendors over the next five years.
