Category: Think-Tank

Welcome to our Think Tank category, a dedicated space designed to host thought-provoking discussions and thorough analyses related to the future landscape of fintech. As an influential player in the fintech industry, we believe in the power of knowledge sharing and the exchange of insights as a means to cultivate an environment that fosters innovation and thought leadership.

The Think Tank is a hub of articles that span an array of topics. We delve into everything from the profound impact of regulatory changes on fintech to the transformative role of artificial intelligence within the realm of financial services. Our objective is to provide a forum for insightful discourse that stimulates thought, encourages debates, and acts as a catalyst for innovation.

At Signzy, our passion lies in exploring and envisioning the future of fintech, and sharing our vision with the world. Our Think Tank is a testament to this passion. It’s a platform where we showcase our ideas, share our insights, and make predictions about the evolution of the fintech industry.

Whether you are a fintech professional at the forefront of industry developments, a business leader steering your organization through the digital landscape, or an individual intrigued by the future of finance, our Think Tank offers a treasure trove of thought-provoking insights and stimulating discussions.

We invite you to join us on this exciting intellectual journey as we explore the future of fintech, sharing our vision for a financial landscape that is more efficient, secure, and customer-centric. Step into our Think Tank, where ideas fuel innovation and discussions shape the future of fintech. Let’s explore, question, and envision the future of finance together.

Tackling Talent Shortage in The Fintech Industry And Other Financial Services

Posted on | by Signzian

With a stunning 182% boost in tech job growth, the global fintech industry did exceedingly well in the first quarter of 2022. But it is predicted that the sector will face massive hurdles in the coming quarters of 2022 as a significant shortage in tech talent threatens to decrease the growth of the global fintech sector.

Although lack of skilled labor accounts for part of this concern, the primary issue lies within increased attrition. Some may even attribute this to ‘The Great Resignation’ phenomenon. Nonetheless, there must be ways to consider this.

As soon as Fintechs improved at loping the client acquisition challenge, talent acquisition and retention became a new obstacle. The threat of losing a qualified and growing workforce and customer service amplifies the sales-related stress. With that in mind, retaining talented people is becoming as important as bringing in new customers.

From Where Does The Concern Incept?

Among the primary concerns that prevent employees from being efficient and loyal to their jobs is a maze of offers from other companies. However, with the increased presence of open banking and the rise of new fintech players, employees have ample choice now in what they do and where they want to do it.

Since 2001 financial technology workers in the USA quit their jobs at the highest rate, according to a 2019 US Bureau of Labor Statistics report. This increased to a tremendous rate following the COVID-19 Outbreak. In December 2021 alone, 4.3 million Americans quit their jobs. It’s therefore vital for businesses to ensure that they have the right work cultures and processes to enable and nurture talent, especially as they are going through hyper-growth.

Now is the time for executive and primary leaders to acknowledge and adapt to the evolving needs of their employees. This is to be done with as much dedication and commitment as they provide their customers. Gallup reported that more than half of the workforce in America is disengaged from their respective jobs. At the same time, the engaged employees considerably reduce the associated cost of turnover, which usually remains high. The overall customer experience and annual revenue directly link to employee retention and decreased attrition damage.

According to another report, the draining shortage of software engineers in the fintech industry in the past three years makes recruiting harder. Unfortunately, this also increases the time to fill exponentially. As a result, the cost of incorporating a new software engineer into the workforce is rising, and a reputed HR brand, together with employee retention and decreased attrition processes, increases in importance.

Ensuring Employee Retention With A Good HR Brand

Companies that understand and value employee experience are already on a good start. They should promote initiatives to improve the employee experience. As a result, their customer experience success rate will boost. The favorable outcomes earned through apt and efficient strategic employee engagement will generate a workplace culture that values the trust among employees as well as external customers they interact with each day.

The game plan must include multiple vital components to keep the HR management on top, well-informed, and proactive. There are several aspects to consider while pursuing this goal. Still, to keep it concise, the following are the primary three points you must never ignore when it comes to interacting and engaging the employees:

Speak To And Be Accessible To Your Employees.

A famous firm that shall not be named refers to its employees as resources. It seems absurd to reasonable ears to hear a human being referred to as a resource. Moreover, it gives an outright impression that the company sees its employees as objects. This is the wrong approach.

Your employees are your company’s spine. They are humans. They need proper communication with their colleagues and must feel secure. When isolated, they will feel insecure, resulting in inefficient performances. That’s why talents value good management’s transparency and approachability in a friendly atmosphere. Hence, when you interact with your employees on casual topics or engage in occasional conversations, consider letting them know of your good mood; it highly encourages their loyalty and sincerity, which are vital to keeping them on the ship.

Improve Talent With Effective Educational And Growth Opportunities

A proper sense of fulfillment at work fundamentally depends on how the enterprise recognizes and acknowledges the individual traits of an employee. If a company focuses on encouraging growth and formulates a professional pathway for each employee, it resolves numerous problems at the workplace. Some of the perks include:

  • It shows that employees are valued and vital to the organization.
  • It helps engage their interests and allows them to concentrate and be actively efficient.
  • It fetches the best talent out there.

Enhancing business knowledge is essential for all employees’ professional training and support for growth. Accompanying the loyalty this deems, it brings a better understanding of internal and external processes to the game, helping the management avoid any mistakes. It also shortens development time to nearly 50 percent. The usual personal financial perks provided for employees in the fintech industry will also help. They learn more about investing, banking processes, and different financial companies/markets. The employees can benefit from all this by making better decisions to engage in good financial companies.

Make Sure to Engage Teams, Especially The Remote Ones

Today, creating distributed teams is a current trend in team management. If managed resourcefully, your company will benefit from hiring remote individuals and skilled labor. However, it’s an unfair conclusion that having a widely distributed team is a high risk. Proper management makes such a team more than a success. Unfortunately, only 8 percent of the companies that utilize alternative workers know how to establish processes efficiently. There are methods to determine and resolve the problems in the fintech industry that diminish the team’s efficiency and ensure that the transition to a distributed team is safe and smooth.

Remote employees  also need to communicate with peers, craft networks, share opinions, and know that they are acknowledged and appreciated. Ensure to make them feel to be part of the work family without insisting upon it; they will chime in more than they need to when it’s needed. 

In Essence

Considering the current scenario of the Great Resignation, many leaders are taking action. For example, a recent report from Gartner revealed that 58% of all IT heads reported an increase in emerging tech investments in 2021. In 2020 this was 29%. And most of this will be aimed at sustaining a talent-rich environment in the industry.

Skilled labor is indeed hard to retain. Finding it is harder still. Hence with consideration for the employees without compromising the vision each enterprise engages in, we can pave a path forward. And this path can lead to the penultimate sustenance of a self-engaged financial ecosystem, ultimately tackling the talent shortage in the fintech industry. From thenceforth, we can pursue what every innovative fintech aspires for; a revolution in the sector for the better.

About Signzy

Signzy is a market-leading platform that is redefining the speed, accuracy, and experience of how financial institutions are onboarding customers and businesses – using the digital medium. The company’s award-winning no-code GO platform delivers seamless, end-to-end, and multi-channel onboarding journeys while offering totally customizable workflows. It gives these players access to an aggregated marketplace of 240+ bespoke APIs that can be easily added to any workflow with simple widgets.

Signzy is enabling ten million+ end customer and business onboarding every month at a success rate of 99% while reducing the speed to market from 6 months to 3-4 weeks. It works with over 240+ FIs globally, including the 4 largest banks in India, a Top 3 acquiring Bank in the US, and has a robust global partnership with Mastercard and Microsoft. The company’s product team is based out of Bengaluru, and it has a strong presence in Mumbai, New York, and Dubai.

Visit www.signzy.com for more information about us.

You can reach out to our team at reachout@signzy.com

Written By:

Signzy

Written by an insightful Signzian intent on learning and sharing knowledge.

Enhancing Economy with e-RUPI- India’s Innovative Venture Ahead Of Digital Currency

Posted on | by Signzian

Introduction

Between the years 1990 and 2018, the social security and welfare revenue expenditure of India was more than INR1.6 trillion. Observers point out that much of this did not reach the beneficiaries as mediators consumed the lion’s share. The central government is implementing a new mode to tackle this issue- e-RUPI.

For years the RBI’s aversion towards digital currencies was attributed to the bureaucratic influence from administrations. Now the same administrations are taking steps to approach the future of the economy. e-RUPI is the nation’s latest digital nudge in the financial revolution that will certainly improve the efficiency of welfare programs. More importantly, it will pave a smoother path for the digitization of currency in India.

e-RUPI connects the beneficiaries of the service and the service providers digitally. This avoids all physical interventions, rendering the need for mediators moot. It ensures that all payments are completed only when the transaction is concluded.

How Does e-RUPI Work?

The concerned entity delivers a QR code or an SMS string to the beneficiary’s phone. This enables the user to access it as e-RUPI, a contactless digital payments system. It is similar to a prepaid gift voucher redeemable at select centers. This eliminates all needs for any debit or credit card, internet banking, or even a mobile app. The connection between the service provider and the beneficiary is strictly digital, making it exceedingly foolproof.

NPCI(National Payments Corporation of India) built e-RUPI on its other innovative venture, the UPI platform. Partner banks of the initiative authenticate the details of the specific persons and the purpose of the transaction with which corporate or government agencies approach them. Beneficiaries identify using their mobile number. The banks also provide a voucher to the service provider with the name of the respective beneficiary. This is delivered to the same individual with all security parameters met.

Advantages of e-RUPI

The primary advantage the government notes is a leak-proof proof delivery of all welfare schemes and services incorporated. This may even include schemes for providing medicine and drugs for deserving citizens without hassle or bureaucratic delay.

With more than 17.1% of the entire youth populace being female, it is highly essential to ensure that welfare schemes for women be efficient and devoid of foul play. That is why Mother and Child welfare schemes are also included under the banner. Other major programs set to adopt e-RUPI are TB eradication programs, Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, fertilizer and farming subsidies, etc.

The government recommends the private sector utilize this option as well. The system can be used for CSR(Corporate Social Responsibility) Programmes and employee welfare. Once the corporate sector embraces the benefits of such a system, the national economic landscape will witness terraforming.

e-RUPI vs. Digital Currencies

Despite a frigid history of India’s aversion for digital currencies and the looming concern of a pan-nation crypto ban, the government and associated agencies are taking all steps to transform that image. They are already working on a central bank digital currency(CBDC). This coupled with the potential of e-RUPI to fill the wedges in digital payment infrastructure can result in a successful future for digital currency in the country.

But the catch is that, unlike digital currencies, e-RUPI is still backed by the existing INR as the underlying asset currency. This makes it more of an advanced voucher system than a sophisticated digital currency. Nonetheless, this is a step in the right direction for the whole nation, as financial digitization is certainly an inevitable factor.

How Can Signzy Help?

With even currency being digitized, the Indian financial ecosystem faces challenges in determining the legitimacy of parties involved in digital transactions. Fortified and secure instruments are needed to ensure that all customers, beneficiaries, providers, and even companies are credible. Signzy helps you do exactly that!

We are an RPA-platform for financial and regulatory services. With our state-of-the-art AI-powered technology with a quiver of APIs, products, and resources customizable for your specific needs, none of the hurdles that come with adapting to e-RUPI is an issue. We can make your transition smooth and seamless. Be it KYC of your customer, or a provider approaching your financial institution, we can craft the exact solution you need. Your safety and satisfaction are our priority.

About Signzy

Signzy is a market-leading platform redefining the speed, accuracy, and experience of how financial institutions are onboarding customers and businesses – using the digital medium. The company’s award-winning no-code GO platform delivers seamless, end-to-end, and multi-channel onboarding journeys while offering customizable workflows. In addition, it gives these players access to an aggregated marketplace of 240+ bespoke APIs that can be easily added to any workflow with simple widgets.

Signzy is enabling ten million+ end customer and business onboarding every month at a success rate of 99% while reducing the speed to market from 6 months to 3-4 weeks. It works with over 240+ FIs globally, including the 4 largest banks in India, a Top 3 acquiring Bank in the US, and has a robust global partnership with Mastercard and Microsoft. The company’s product team is based out of Bengaluru and has a strong presence in Mumbai, New York, and Dubai.

Visit www.signzy.com for more information about us.

You can reach out to our team at reachout@signzy.com

Written By:

Signzy

Written by an insightful Signzian intent on learning and sharing knowledge.

Knowing KYC Norms- How will RBI’s Latest Directive For Implementing V-CIP Affect The BFSI Sector?

Posted on | by Signzian

The Reserve Bank has always tried to remain adaptable in changing times. Its directive to utilize a video-based customer identification process(V-CIP) for know your customer (KYC) procedures is the latest evidence for this. The announcement came as an amendment in its master direction on the 10th of May 2021.

V-CIP utilizes facial recognition technology to identify the customer. It can also include an authorised official from the regulated entity (usually an RM) performing the live customer due diligence with informed consent for verification. This is far more convenient, secure, and seamless since the whole process is an audio-visual interaction between the RM and the customer.

What Is The RBI’s Directive?

The Reserve Bank stipulates regulated entities(RE) to use V-CIP in Customer Due Diligence(CDD) for:

  • New individual customer onboarding.
  • Proprietors(Proprietorship Firms)
  • Beneficial Owners(BOs) and authorised signatories among legal entity customers.

The directive is also for other RBI regulated entities including banks, payment system operators and NBFCs. Updation of KYC for existing customers and customers who had opened accounts through non-face-to-face modes( Using Aadhar OTP based e-KYC verification) is also to be done with V-CIP.

The RBI provides guidelines for a minimum standard for all REs to maintain baseline cybersecurity for banks and financial institutions. These include them:

  • House all technology infrastructure in the RE’s premises.
  • Use secured network domains for V-CIP connection origins.
  • Ensure all outsourcing of technology associated with the process to be compliant with respective RBI guidelines.
  • Maintain end-to-end encryption of information between V-CIP hosting point and customer’s device.
  • Obtain auditable and alteration proof customer consent.
  • Create a transparent workflow and SOP(standard operating procedure) for all V-CIP related processing.

REs should appoint specially trained officials for operating the V-CIP process. These officials would record audio-video and obtain photographs(mostly real-time) of customers whose identification is to be verified.

These officials can obtain the customer identification information with an Offline or OTP based Aadhaar e-KYC verification. They can also retrieve the required information from CKYCR or equivalent OVD e-document repository through DigiLocker.

How Will It Impact The Sector?

Many financial institutions have already taken up V-CIP as an additional armour of protection against fraudsters and scammers. The RBI’s amendment of the master direction will further encourage more institutions and REs to adopt V-CIP. The usually hesitant players will adopt this mode of technology for their benefit. Even the traditionally slow to adapt government sector banks and NBFCs will also follow suit.

The change would not only affect the REs and institutions, but also the customers in a rather positive fashion. With the pandemic looming over the country, every individual desire to be safe and avoid all in-person interactions. With this directive, the REs and financial institutions are compelled to help solve this issue. With remote V-CIP methods, all customers will be at zero health risk.

Additionally, no customer prefers the extra time commuting and the plethora of documentation formalities that may follow in legacy systems of CDD. V-CIP makes the journey easier, preferable and convenient for the customer, all while saving the REs and their employees time and resources.

But it is important to be aware of how REs avail V-CIP services from Regtech firms. When it comes to such crucial aspects it is always safe to bet on reliable and supportive companies for assistance.

Why Signzy?

Signzy is a ‘no-code AI platform’ for financial services. No matter how complex a workflow or an operation, Signzy can completely automate the back-office operations and decision-making processes into a real-time API. Signzy’s pantheon of V-CIP related products is efficient and reliable to another class.

Some of the features Signzy’s V-CIP and Video KYC products have are:

  • Real-time OVD verification
  • Matching face on ID with face in the video (with % confidence score)
  • Unlimited video storage and instant retrieval
  • Geo-location capture and IP check
  • End-to-end encryption for video, channel, and communication
  • Video forensics for pre-recorded risk and spoof detection
  • Digital forgery check on the displayed ID proof
  • Customer identity verification through offline Aadhaar XML
  • Seamless and interactive UI for live video interaction
  • Timestamp and audit trail for every application and video interaction

Signzy’s V-CIP services and products are 100% in compliance with all the RBI regulatory guidelines and directives. This is essential as all REs are supervised for the right compliance practices and Signzy offers to negate all possible complications. Signzy’s solutions are easy to use with immediate responses which make it fast and efficient.

About Signzy

Signzy is a market-leading platform redefining the speed, accuracy, and experience of how financial institutions are onboarding customers and businesses – using the digital medium. The company’s award-winning no-code GO platform delivers seamless, end-to-end, and multi-channel onboarding journeys while offering customizable workflows. In addition, it gives these players access to an aggregated marketplace of 240+ bespoke APIs that can be easily added to any workflow with simple widgets.

Signzy is enabling ten million+ end customer and business onboarding every month at a success rate of 99% while reducing the speed to market from 6 months to 3-4 weeks. It works with over 240+ FIs globally, including the 4 largest banks in India, a Top 3 acquiring Bank in the US, and has a robust global partnership with Mastercard and Microsoft. The company’s product team is based out of Bengaluru and has a strong presence in Mumbai, New York, and Dubai.

Visit www.signzy.com for more information about us.

You can reach out to our team at reachout@signzy.com

Written By:

Signzy

Written by an insightful Signzian intent on learning and sharing knowledge.

Online Gaming

Why Is KYC Necessary For Online Gaming?

Posted on | by Signzian

Know Your Customer, is essential in the online gaming realm to ensure the integrity, safety, and compliance of the platform. As the digital gaming industry expands, it’s imperative to verify the identity of players to prevent fraudulent activities, underage participation, and potential misuse for money laundering.

The global online gambling industry was worth more than $45 billion in 2017 and is predicted to rise to $94.4 billion by 2024. With such a stark rise in use and increasingly large sums of money moving through these entities, online gambling and gaming institutions are facing the same scrutiny to which other banks and other financial entities are subject. Prime targets for identity fraud, money laundering, and international financial crime, regulatory compliance is intensifying to ensure that online casinos and gambling institutions are taking serious measures to prevent such illicit activity.

However, as the demand for online gambling services increases, so does the stringency of regulatory compliance. Not only does this mean hiring a large compliance team to deal with the backlog, but online casinos are also now subject to higher costs and wait times for identity verification procedures. In this sense, manual KYC processing for casinos is a little outdated, offering a clunky solution that wastes time, squanders budgets, and is littered with errors.

The Backdrop Of Online Gaming In the USA

In the USA, online gambling establishments that have gross revenue of over $1 million are classed as non-bank financial institutions (NBFI). This means they must adhere to similar regulations as banks to help prevent fraud, financial crimes, and money laundering. 

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is responsible for monitoring the compliance of AML regulations under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). The BSE requires that financial institutions must help the government identify and prevent money laundering by identifying, flagging, and reporting certain suspicious activity and transactions. FinCEN has assigned this responsibility to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to ensure compliance measures are being met.

For relevant online casinos, AML measures include filing suspicious activity reports (SARs) for unusual transactions of over $5000, as well as reporting currency transactions of over $10,000. There are also extremely tight requirements for recordkeeping and receipt storage, as well as credit extensions over $10,000. 

While all of these AML measures are a must, US online casinos are first required to accurately identify and verify customers using KYC processes. Failure to do so results in unbelievable fines. 

In fact, the American Gaming Association (AMA) recently updated its policies. According to these new regulations, US users can not open an account without providing basic PII details: full legal name, address, and social security number. More importantly, however, no real money transactions can be undertaken without submitting an official government ID and proof of a permanent address.

The poignant point here is that AMA’s rules apply to the patron, not the casino as such. In this sense, a US citizen using an online casino in a different jurisdiction must still provide this information. If online gambling platforms don’t have measures in place for this, they are in danger of non-compliance.

Call For KYC In The Gaming Industry – How It Can Help?

 

Almost 4.4 billion people globally are active internet users as of April 2019. This means that nearly 60% of the human population has the means to connect and interact with the online world around them. It’s no surprise that these combined factors have fueled the market for online gambling and gaming. In an already heavily regulated marketplace, this rapid growth is bringing Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) to the forefront of regulators’ agendas around the world.

With a wide range of options for users to gamble online, it makes sense that the companies that will come out on top are going to strike a balance between compliance and user experience. The question is, how can companies maintain compliance without sacrificing an incredible gaming experience for their users?

Why do online gambling and gaming companies need to be responsible for KYC?

Companies in the online gambling and gaming industries are legally obligated to verify user identity, age, location, and source of funds among other categories to protect their users and platform from bad actors and fraud.

One of the major reasons for this is the need to avoid money laundering and terrorist funding. If proper KYC is not performed on contestants and participants, the platform can be used to launder money and use it for assimilating funds for dangerous organizations. Many laws are created to prevent such practices and most gaming organizers and companies must abide to it.

Just as reputable companies prioritize trust when it comes to providing users with fair play and a secure environment, users must be able to trust that information being collected from them is being handled appropriately and safeguarded.

Companies looking to stay both in compliance and competitive are seeking advanced onboarding & identity verification solutions to…

  • Protect the company and users from bad actors and fraud
  • Continuously comply with the latest global regulations
  • Deliver a seamless, trustworthy, and user-friendly experience

KYC in The Gaming Industry – Mistakes That Could Be Avoided

Casinos deal in financial transactions, often on a very large scale. Online gambling platforms and casinos can turn over millions of dollars a day, making them a prime target for money laundering and financial crimes. Not only that, the lack of face-to-face interaction on internet gambling platforms makes it easier for fraudulent users to play on these sites without detection.

KYC and identity verification processes are designed to help reduce the risks of illicit activity by identifying customers and verifying that this identity is correct. In doing this, suspicious characters and potentially high-risk users can be flagged and monitored, or banned.

As in every industry, a risk-based approach is very important and necessary in the gaming industry. For an AML control program to achieve its purpose, it is very important to identify risks and take precautions against risks. As part of the risk-based approach, game operators must implement risk assessment by implementing AML controls to new customers throughout the customer engagement process. Know Your Customer and Customer Due Diligence procedures describe the controls that must be implemented during the customer onboarding process.

Online Gaming

  • Currently, it’s predicted that 2-5% of the US’s GDP is laundered money, equating to between $800 billion and $2 trillion. Unfathomable sums of this nature have the power to shake the bedrock of the US economy.
  • While money laundering may seem to be a primary concern for banks and financial entities, studies show that casinos are ripe for money laundering. In 2014, Finnish gambling operators submitted over 9000 money laundering reports. 
  • Studies are showing that criminal groups, known as dot.cons work together to ‘wash’ funds by deliberately losing games and claiming ‘clean’ prize money. A great example of this was The  Corozzo Network, operating from 2005 to 2008. The network of 26 members ran illegal gambling and loan-sharking services through four online gambling sites, laundering more than $10 million.
  • More recently, CG Technology (trading as Cantor Gaming) was fined $22.5 million by various regulatory bodies in 2016 for poor AML provisions. The gambling company’s lack of AML procedures enabled 26 individuals, known as the ‘Jersey Boys’, to launder large sums of money through the platform with bad bets.
  • Further still, as technology advances, the schemes become more complex. Thanks to the introduction of virtual credit cards, prepaid mobile credit, and alternative payment gateways like PayPal, micro-laundering is now easier than ever and far less detectable.

By introducing strict KYC checks, casinos mitigate the risk of becoming vehicles for money laundering as high-risk individuals are flagged from the outset.

How Digital KYC Can Help The Online Gaming Industry

As we can see from above, KYC and AML (Anti Money Laundering) solutions can save business owners a lot of hassle. Digital KYC systems would have carried out comprehensive background checks identifying possible threats and allowing the owner to take action accordingly. The online gaming industry is a hotspot for money laundering although certain policies are governing the industry the chance is still there that it could be used for terrorist funding.

Signzy is an AI-powered RPA platform that provides digital onboarding solutions with our no-code AI model builder and our Fintech API Marketplace of over 200+ APIs. Our unique solution provides:

  • Secure System: A customer’s account information is secure because the entire process is online. Identity theft, fraud, loan scams, money laundering, the flow of black money, etc. are all minimized with RealKYC.
  • Efficient Communication: Effective information can be relayed in an efficient and timely manner. There is no need for constant back and forth. Most details are published automatically unlike manual KYC.
  • ‘Free of Cost’ Process:  RealKYC verification doesn’t charge any extra amount to the customer. A company or institution may need to pay automation costs of installing verification systems for the long run but the end-user gets a seamless, almost instant onboarding without hassle.
  • Faster processing: The RealKYC service is completely automated online. This means that KYC data can be transferred in real-time without the need for any manual intervention. The paper-based KYC process can take days up to weeks to get verified, but the eKYC process takes just a few minutes to verify and issue.

At Signzy, we have also introduced a new form of KYC verification called VideoKYC. This is a faster and more efficient form of KYC collection and verification. It conducts liveliness checks against the user as well as verifies the identification document against forgeries. The VideoKYC product has gained a lot of recognition and won several awards in recent months.

Advantages of using VideoKYC

  • Higher Application Accuracy
  • Plug and Play solution, swift Go-To-Market
  • Comprehensive Training Program
  • Competitive Advantage through customer delight
  • 100% compliant with the latest RBI Mandate
  • Exponentially increase Scale of Operations
  • Reduced back office overheads (up to 70%)
  • Reduction in customer Drop-offs (up to 50%)
  • Platform Agnostic, support multiple communication channels

Conclusion

The online gaming industry is evolving rapidly around the world and expanding with each passing day. Gaming sites have improved tremendously in terms of user experience and now, they can make it more secure by enhancing the membership security protocols. Providing different gaming sites the ease of accurate digital ID verification will increase their revenue manifold. The introduction of digital KYC services has already been a huge success in financial and other sectors. Hopefully, its adoption in the near future might lead to more secure online gaming services in the US.

 

About Signzy

Signzy is a market-leading platform redefining the speed, accuracy, and experience of how financial institutions are onboarding customers and businesses – using the digital medium. The company’s award-winning no-code GO platform delivers seamless, end-to-end, and multi-channel onboarding journeys while offering customizable workflows. In addition, it gives these players access to an aggregated marketplace of 240+ bespoke APIs that can be easily added to any workflow with simple widgets.

Signzy is enabling ten million+ end customer and business onboarding every month at a success rate of 99% while reducing the speed to market from 6 months to 3-4 weeks. It works with over 240+ FIs globally, including the 4 largest banks in India, a Top 3 acquiring Bank in the US, and has a robust global partnership with Mastercard and Microsoft. The company’s product team is based out of Bengaluru and has a strong presence in Mumbai, New York, and Dubai.

Visit www.signzy.com for more information about us.

You can reach out to our team at reachout@signzy.com

Written By:

Signzy

Written by an insightful Signzian intent on learning and sharing knowledge.

Impact of E-Stamping On Indian Rental Economy

Posted on | by Signzian

E-Stamp paper or electronic stamp paper is an online application through which Stamp Duty can be safely paid to the Government. Government transactions need payment of non-judicial stamp duty. However, doing so in a conventional way would be a time-consuming process. Stamp papers are mostly used for creating rental agreements.

The law mandates that a certain amount has to be paid to the Central/State Govt. each time certain kinds of transactions take place. Such payments are referred to as Stamp duty. Examples of such transactions are buying and selling real estate, business agreements, leasing property, etc.

Stamp Duty is never paid in cash transactions. Instead, Stamp Papers equivalent to the payment value is purchased. Then the deed is printed/typed/written on it. Stamp papers evidently show that the required Stamp Duty has been paid to the Govt. It behaves similar to receipts.

The amount to be paid towards duty differs from state to state. In case a state does not possess its own Stamp Act, it will be overseen by the Indian Stamp Act.

The Backdrop of E-Stamping — How It Came About

In 2019, the Indian Stamp Act of 1899 was amended for the purpose of preventing tax evasion. The amendment was to be officially legislated from April 1, 2020. However, due to the outbreak of COVID–19 the amendment was delayed to 1st July 2020.

The process of E-Stamping is one of the simplest ways to fulfill an agreement. For this, a web portal is available where the payment for the stamp duty can be made. The e-SBTR (Electronic Secure Bank and Treasury Receipt) system enables E-Stamping for the authorized bank. This reduces time and other administrative expenses.

So What Is E-Stamping?

E-Stamping was launched to enhance the stamp duty payment method. Stock Holding Corporation of India Limited (“SHCIL”) is responsible for all the e-stamps utilized in the country. SHCIL is a body appointed by the Central Government. It is also responsible for the maintenance of records.

There are many advantages to using e-stamps. E-Stamping is basically tamper-proof. A unique identification number is generated to check the authenticity of the e-stamp.

There are drawbacks to e-stamping as well. For example, in the event of loss of the e-stamp certificate, then a duplicate copy cannot be issued. Another point is that despite online payment, the actual stamp paper has to be collected physically. This can be done from their respective vendors. It is a hassle and a major challenge in the current situation to collect the physical stamp paper.

Another consequent problem faced in e-stamping is a late fee. In such cases, a late fee will be levied. The Collector is the discretionary authority to accept delayed payments if an appropriate reason is given. This will be at his/her discretion.

An exception with regard to the late fee due to delayed payments is the Maharashtra Stamp Act. According to Section 17 of the Maharashtra Stamp Act, the stamp duty can be paid the next day after the execution.

On April 20, 2020, the Ministry of Finance appealed to the State Governments to issue proper instructions to the Collector. This should be done before collecting the late fee with regard to loan agreements or any other instruments. However, there has been no mention of any penalty.

4 Benefits of E-Stamping

 

Taking the documentation process online is easy, fast and hassle-free. Getting the Stamp paper signed is a challenging task at times. This is especially true when you need the process done faster to move things ahead. Given below are some benefits of E-Stamping:

Fast documentation

The entire process of collecting documents, taking them for stamping and then filing them wherever needs is a lengthy process. E-Stamping makes it easy for you. You can easily upload the documents in minutes on the portal. Using the certificate ID number and other details one can easily check its authenticity.

No Fraud

Going online with the documentation process makes sure there are no frauds. As E-Stamping solutions can be easily verified, there is no danger of manipulations that can be done on paper. These are mainly done by tampering with the quality of paper, signature/thumb impression etc.

No shortages in paper

This is one of the biggest advantages, there will never be an issue of the paper. There are times when people go to buy stamp papers and you come empty-handed as they have no stock left. But with e-stamping, this topic is out of the discussion. Because e-stamps are available online with licensed vendors and banks.

Going Paperless

With an e-stamp made available online, buying or selling properties or renting a place or even goods is easier. Going paperless also helps to save the environment while it gives you the opportunity to complete certain things fast. You can easily get your papers signed and submitted wherever needed. An example is Madras High Court which went paperless in April 2018.

Where Can Businesses Use E-Stamping?

Stamp Papers are utilized for creating agreements/contracts as well as affidavits. Every agreement, starting from the office’s rental agreement to the vehicle lease agreement needs to be printed on stamp paper. Contracts comprise everyday business transactions in almost all industries. On the other hand, affidavits are commonly used by regulatory bodies to issue circulars.

However, if stamp duty is not paid for an agreement, the agreement would not be considered as legal evidence in the court if one of the parties dishonors the terms agreed upon. This is where the e-Stamping & Digital Contracts can be used to speed up business documentation and processes.

E-Stamp Paper And Rental Agreements

In order to use e-Stamp paper for rental agreements, the first thing you need to do is verify whether your state provides this facility. This can be done by logging on to the website of SHCIL and checking whether your state is included in the list. The current Indian states that allow e-Stamping are Assam, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Delhi-NCR, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.

To get a rental agreement printed on e-Stamp paper, you must purchase an e-Stamp paper from allotted centers in your city. This cannot be done online from SHCIL or their distributors. Next, you should write/print your prepared rental deed on it. Then the executants must sign at designated places along with the signatures of two witnesses. This makes the contract, legally binding.

How E-Stamping Can Contribute To Rental Economy

The above section explains how e-stamping applies to rental agreements. These no longer apply to just renting a home or commercial space. In India, there are many instances in which people choose to rent goods or services for mostly two reasons. Youngsters do not know which city they might have to live in when they relocate for work purposes. Secondly, many items ranging from clothing to furniture may have a price tag that may not be suitable with one’s income. People who need formal wear for a special occasion may not wish to wait a year to purchase it.

All of the above have given rise to multiple rental businesses which drive the rental economy in India. Most of these businesses require agreements and stamp duty when dealing with tenants, distributors, brokers etc. Some top examples are given below:

Rental/Shared Workspace:

India has seen the rise of startup companies that offer co-working and co-living spaces. They are near each other. Most working professionals or students prefer staying near colleges/schools/workplace. Some popular co-working companies include WeWork, InstaOffice, GoWork, and Innov8.

However, the current Covid-19 crisis has changed this equation to a great extent. While new companies continue to spring up across the country, physical interaction is still frowned upon, giving rise to technologies like e-contracting and e-sign. With the recently introduced e-stamping directive, this innovation is also set to change the shared workspace economy.

Rental/Shared Accommodation:

 

In 2019, rental living companies have expanded to providing a wide range of services. Living spaces by Zolostay, Nestaway or NoBroker are perfect if you are looking for a place to rent/share. In fact, a December 2018 survey by Knight Frank India shows that 72% of millennials gave co-living spaces a thumbs-up. Over 55% of respondents were in the age bracket of 18–35 years. They were more than willing to rent co-living spaces.

In India, 47% of the youth population approximately fall under the country’s working-age population. They are an integral part who take up coliving spaces in major cities.

  • About 60% of Indian students being outstation students in most cities. As such, the demand stands at approximately 100,000 beds across India for student accommodation.
  • Coliving industry in India has a net worth of about 85 Cr INR. This is responsible for about 2.5% of the entire rental market. This is based on the industry expectation and the forecast which stands at 2X growth in three years.

But with Covid-19, the same issue arises where most tenants/customers want rental agreements to be done online. A Digital E-Stamp can speed up the process of creating rental agreements. This can be done by merging the agreements with stamp paper. It helps save the time and effort involved in the physical process of acquiring stamp paper and printing the agreement on it.

Rental/Shared Vehicle Industry

 

The Covid-19 crisis has created an aversion to public transport amidst people. As such, self-drive and rental car companies have seen a steep rise in subscriptions and inquiries. Car rental companies like Eco-Rent-a-Car and Revv have seen a sudden spike in demand. Other companies like Zoomcar have witnessed a 4x increase in rentals while some like Drivezy are launching new services to ride the wave. Work from home, fear of infection in public transport and schools being shut are some of the factors that are contributing to greater demand for car rental companies.

  • Currently, the individual cab business for Eco-Rent-a-Car is up to 350 cars a day. However, travel and tourism which used to be 200 cars a day are now down to almost zero.
  • Revv have seen a 30%-40% increase in subscriptions

While availing the services of cars and drivers, these companies also have a higher demand for signing agreements online. With e-Stamping being cleared by the government, paying stamp duty is no longer a hassle for vehicle rental companies.

Rental/Shared Consumer Goods

While it may not seem like much, but this industry was actually growing at a huge pace before the pandemic. Here are some facts:

  • According to a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the sharing economy is set to generate potential revenue of $335 billion by 2025 globally.
  • In 2019, the rental industry has made a huge market in India with estimates that the market stands at about $1.5 billion.
  • In an article by Livemint, a rough estimate shows that the market for rental of furniture is seen at around $800–850 million. Rentals of electronic appliances are approximately a market of $500 million while that of bikes is $300 million.

The rental/shared consumer goods companies need to deal with a lot of third parties like brokers, manufacturers, distributors, retailers etc. They require contracts/agreements on a yearly/monthly basis, which is why the need for e-contracts and e-stamping is crucial in this sector as well.

Conclusion:

In the situation of COVID-19 Pandemic, it is important that the documents can be executed and at the same time be valid under the court of law. E-agreements are valid under the court of law and they are eligible for stamp duty as well.

E-Stamping also points towards a reduction in corruption and improving transparency. Yet there could be technical issues to be faced by the executors of an agreement through e-stamping. This may be a major challenge to sign an agreement.

Further, the state legislature can be lenient in terms of levying delayed payment fees. In contrast, there are certain states which have to show more importance to e-contracts and e-stamping. An important factor is the Indian rural population. People still do not have adequate knowledge in technology. This makes it very challenging in rural areas to adapt to this e-stamping. It could also be challenging for lawmakers and government departments.

In conclusion, while E-Stamping is still in it’s infancy and growing, it has many hurdles to overcome yet across the country before being accepted as a standardized norm.

About Signzy

Signzy is a market-leading platform redefining the speed, accuracy, and experience of how financial institutions are onboarding customers and businesses – using the digital medium. The company’s award-winning no-code GO platform delivers seamless, end-to-end, and multi-channel onboarding journeys while offering customizable workflows. In addition, it gives these players access to an aggregated marketplace of 240+ bespoke APIs that can be easily added to any workflow with simple widgets.

Signzy is enabling ten million+ end customer and business onboarding every month at a success rate of 99% while reducing the speed to market from 6 months to 3-4 weeks. It works with over 240+ FIs globally, including the 4 largest banks in India, a Top 3 acquiring Bank in the US, and has a robust global partnership with Mastercard and Microsoft. The company’s product team is based out of Bengaluru and has a strong presence in Mumbai, New York, and Dubai.

Visit www.signzy.com for more information about us.

You can reach out to our team at reachout@signzy.com

Reach us at: www.signzy.com

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Signzy

Written by an insightful Signzian intent on learning and sharing knowledge.

 

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