First Abu Dhabi Bank partners with Microblink to accelerate ID scanning during KYC verification

June 1, 2023

BlinkID reduces customer friction during mobile bank onboarding by accurately extracting data from identity documents.

At First Abu Dhabi Bank, we are always looking for new opportunities to enhance the banking experience for our customers. As mobile banking gains increasing popularity across the United Arab Emirates, we want to ensure our application is simple and user-friendly to drive widespread adoption. By integrating BlinkID, we have successfully addressed a common customer complaint during registration, which is instrumental in making our goal a reality.

– Vinod Nagar, Growth Marketing & CX, First Abu Dhabi Bank

Obstacle: Manual data entry requirements slow down customer onboarding

First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) is the UAE’s largest bank and one of the world’s largest and safest financial institutions, offering a comprehensive range of financial solutions, products, and services through its Corporate and Investment Banking and Personal Banking franchises. FAB’s mobile application offers a convenient way for new customers to open an account digitally, eliminating the need to visit a branch. To meet the necessary Know Your Customer (KYC) compliance requirements during the registration process, customers are required to submit their personal identification information (PII) as stated on their identity documents.

Previously, the process of registering for a mobile account could be frustrating and time-consuming for end-users, as they were required to manually enter their relevant information to complete the sign-up. “We greatly value the feedback we received from our customers regarding the mobile application registration process, highlighting the challenges they faced. Addressing these concerns became a significant priority for our team to address,” said Vinod Nagar, Growth Marketing & CX at First Abu Dhabi Bank.

When looking to improve the digital user experience and overall customer satisfaction, the FAB team recognised the importance of finding and using a solution that could automate and accelerate the registration process. Their primary buying criteria revolved around reliability, ensuring users would not have to worry about data confirmation or error correction, and seamless integration to minimize the workload on their developer teams.

Solution: Implementing an automated ID scanning solution to eliminate user friction

FAB opted for and successfully implemented BlinkID to automatically capture, extract, and input data from customer’s various identity documents during the account registration process.

“Today, with BlinkID, our customers simply need to place both sides of their identity document in front of their device’s camera, and BlinkID takes care of the rest. There is no need for user interaction or manual data entry,” explained Nagar. “As technology continues to play a central role in simplifying people’s lives, the user-friendly nature of our platform becomes crucial in maintaining our competitive advantage.”

In addition, FAB has specific requirements related to Arabic script, which features intricate letter shapes and ligatures that are written from right to left. Historically, technology companies have faced considerable challenges in accurately extracting data from Arabic script, leading to frustrations for their development teams.

“In most document scanning technologies, especially OCR, reading Arabic has been a major challenge. Having native speakers on board to work on these technologies is crucial for enhancing the solution and ensuring accuracy. With Microblink’s ML approach and the continuous learning and improvement of BlinkID, we’ve experienced a much smoother experience and ongoing support from the team,” added Nagar.

Impact: Streamlining KYC checks during digital onboarding with BlinkID

By integrating BlinkID, FAB has successfully achieved a seamless online banking experience across its four mobile applications. This integration has played a vital role in attracting and retaining new customers and businesses. The ability for customers to conveniently scan their IDs using near-field communication (NFC) or mobile devices has unlocked efficiency and boosted customer satisfaction, particularly among the younger Millennial and Gen-Z customer segments who seek seamless digital experiences.

“BlinkID is a win-win solution for both our customers and our team,” said Nagar.

“We’re happy to see that our customers can confidently scan their IDs without worrying about what they are doing and double-checking data accuracy. The reliability and user-friendly nature of BlinkID has also alleviated the burden on our developer, customer support, and product support teams. We no longer receive calls from customers reporting issues with data filling correctly.”

Looking ahead, FAB plans to extend the integration of BlinkID into a fifth mobile application and is considering adding on its document verification offering as well.

“According to UAE regulation, only the father is authorized to open a minor’s bank account. However, for mothers, particularly single mothers, proving the parent-child relationship requires presenting court papers at a branch,” explained Nagar. “We are excited about the potential of implementing identity document verification technology within our mobile applications to accelerate this process, and other government checks, to help these groups of people.”