Early Warning Services, Big Banks Launch ID Service Authentify

Early Warning Services LLC has teamed up with seven of America’s biggest banks to launch Authentify, an identity verification service for businesses and consumers.

According to a company news release Monday (April 4), Authentify is being launched with Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, PNC Bank, Truist, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo.

With Authentify, consumers using a participating business’ app or website will get the option to be redirected to log into their online or mobile bank. From there, they can share their banking-trusted data with that business, thus streamlining identity verification.

See also: FTC: Americans Lost $5.8B to Fraud in 2021

“A trusted identity is the key to safe, online transactions,” said Earning Warning CEO Al Ko. “Authentify gives companies and consumers the ability to leverage bank-trusted data to help provide even greater levels of identity assurance.”

Early Warning said Authentify will give companies more confidence in their online interactions with customers because the information is shared via a financial institution with the customers’ consent. This will help businesses reduce abandonment and fraud rates, while banks can offer added value for their services outside the banking experience.

Consumers, meanwhile, get a secure way to share financial information while “reducing errors when filling out forms,” the company said. “Consumers’ banking credentials are never shared with Authentify or other companies.”

Learn more: Treasury Banking’s New To-Do List: Fraud Prevention, Digital Privacy and Zero Friction

PYMNTS spoke last year with Early Warning Services’ Chuck Moore, the company’s vice president of product management, about the need to balance fraud mitigation and privacy.

“The industry is witnessing a continued increase in attacks from a fraud perspective,” he said. “Consumers are bearing the brunt of the fraud expense, as the latest data suggests. These frauds need to be mitigated.”

At the same time, data minimization and consumer privacy are critical, Moore added.

“That’s a tough one to balance, because you’re looking at how to mitigate the fraud while ensuring that you’re only providing the pertinent data to the corporation to validate the identity of the account,” he said. “That’s a critical piece that all too often is overlooked.”