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FinTechs belonging to this category provide identification services, which are required for most banking services.
Introduction
Attitude of the country towards identification services
The identification market is an established market. FinTechs services in this business area are being used by other FinTechs or credit and financial institutions.
Legal affairs
Obligations and requirements to provide identification services
Regarding the identification of the customer as the main "Know Your Customer"-element (KYC-element), the Austrian financial market money-laundering act (Finanzmarkt-Geldwäschegesetz – "FM-GwG") must be complied with.
It is possible for obliged parties, to which credit and financial institutions belong, to delegate the fulfilment of the KYC-requirements to third parties. The third parties don’t need any license to conduct their identification service.
Regarding the collection, storage, modification, or transfer of the data retrieved during the identification process, the European General Data Protection Regulation and its Austrian accompanying regulation must be complied with.
Additional comments regarding the legal situation for identification services or what FinTech’s must be aware of in this business area
On a European level, there are plans to harmonise the AML/KYC regulation. This could lead to changes regarding the KYC-requirements and the delegation to third parties. Further details have not yet been conclusively clarified.
Economic conditions
Market size for identification services and biggest companies in this business area
We don’t have current numbers regarding the market for identification services. Prominent KYC-services providers are WebID, IDnow and Post Ident.
Additional comments regarding the economic situation for identification services or what FinTech’s must be aware of in this business area
The main identification services provided by third parties currently are video identification services or identification through post offices (Post Ident).