• Built on top of open banking, the new API delivers a significantly better onboarding experience, with 90%+ of good actors successfully verified in 3 clicks.

TrueLayer, Europe’s leading open banking platform, announced the launch of a new approach to account ownership checks with its Verification API.

Combining open banking with machine learning, the Verification API makes onboarding effortless with success rates that are over 20% higher than credit bureaus and returning a result in seconds, rather than days, compared to manual bank statement checks. By pre-verifying customer’s details, it also simplifies payments setup meaning no more failed transactions.

Multiple TrueLayer clients are using the Verification API, including Authologic, a Y Combinator-backed provider of identity verification solutions.

“Whether you are a fintech, a marketplace, or an ecommerce platform you want to deliver the best possible onboarding experience. We are aggregating different identity verification methods and we are big supporters of using open banking thanks to its ability to make the entire process more intuitive. Working with a market leader like TrueLayer to integrate its Verification API will help us to further strengthen the identity verification process for our customers,” commented Jarek Sygitowicz, co-founder of Authologic.

Traditional verification methods such as bank statement uploads are slow, error prone and create a poor user experience. While open banking offers another approach, existing providers provide access to raw data that requires businesses to then build and maintain their own logic to check that the customer’s name matches their name on file at the bank.

TrueLayer’s Verification API removes these issues. Rather than the time consuming and resource intensive task of building a matching engine, TrueLayer has developed a verification logic that sits on top of open banking rails. It matches the name supplied during the onboarding process with the name on file at the bank, providing a single feed that ensures an immediate and highly accurate response on whether their user’s account has been verified or not.

As a result, the Verification API delivers significant benefits, including:

• An accelerated onboarding process from 3 days to just 3 clicks.

• Coverage spanning all major banks, resulting in a 22.5% higher success rate compared to credit bureau checks.

• Lower fraud risk through embedded Strong Customer Authentication within the bank verification flow.

• An improved user experience, with a simple redirect to their banking app to confirm account ownership with a fingerprint or Face ID.

• Reduced payment failures by using pre-verified account details.

• Reduced burden on compliance teams by automating checks through a single API call.

• Reduced burden on engineers who can focus on solving core business problems, rather than building and maintaining name-check logic.

“Verification is the first step to onboarding a new user and yet it can often take days to verify an account owner using traditional methods. Their security is questionable, they’re prone to errors and they take forever,” commented Ossama Soliman, Chief Product Officer at TrueLayer. “It doesn’t need to be that way. With the Verification API we’ve built on top of open banking to create a faster, more secure and more accurate approach to verifying a user’s account. It serves businesses across multiple industries, including financial services, PSPs, wealth management and trading, marketplaces, property and iGaming.”

Online gaming operator Kindred Group has partnered with the Malta-based gaming supplier Relax Gaming and created the industry-first LGBTQ+ avatars, available exclusively for Kindred customers.

The idea of designing unique LGBTQ+ avatars was developed in Kindred’s LGBTQ+ Network meetings. Following a discussion between Kindred and Relax Gaming, an avatar design like the exclusive HexaBingo/HexaPro avatars was developed. The LGBTQ+ avatars blend in with current avatar options but provide an alternative option for customers to present themselves online.

“The accumulative impact over time of these adjustments and inclusion is important for minority-identifying individuals and I am glad that we, as a company, can be a part of that. Internally it means Kindred employees can be proud to work for a diverse and inclusive company, whatever their gender or sexual identity. This is not a tick-box exercise for Kindred, this is aligned with our corporate values and our broader Diversity, Equity and Inclusion strategy. It might be seen as a small thing for many but we know it brings reassurance that most LGBTQ+ people don’t often see,” Gavin Hayward, Chief Human Resources Officer at Kindred Group, said.

“It’s amazing to work for a company that is open to suggestions like this. It’s a big world, and there are a lot of different people out there. I have been part of the LGBTQ+ community for many years, and I’m thrilled to see these acknowledgements of inclusion from the mainstream. The difference is vast from when I started in this industry 20 years ago, and it’s thanks to individuals and companies like Kindred driving change,” Katharine Arnsby, Poker and Bingo Team Lead and a member of Kindred’s LGBTQ+ Network, said.

Gaming Realms plc, the developer and licensor of mobile-focused gaming content, is pleased to announce that it has signed a licensing agreement with International Game Technology PLC (“IGT”), a multinational gaming and lottery company.

Under the terms of the agreement, Gaming Realms will produce Slingo games, an entertainment genre popular among mobile gaming enthusiasts that combines elements of slots and bingo, based on some of the highest-performing slots brands within IGT’s game library, including the Cleopatra^® and Da Vinci Diamonds^® brands.

Michael Buckley, Executive Chairman of Gaming Realms, commented: “Combining Slingo with IGT’s iconic proprietary gaming brands represents a compelling partnership, as we accelerate expansion across the U.S. and European markets. Given the popularity of IGT’s titles, this is a fantastic opportunity for Gaming Realms to introduce its Slingo genre to new audiences and welcome a new generation of Slingo fans.”

Enrico Drago, Senior Vice President of IGT PlayDigital, said: “Partnering with Gaming Realms to produce Slingo games represents an exciting opportunity for IGT to extend the reach of some of our top-performing casino brands. These iconic IGT brands are widely recognized by land-based and digital players alike, which will assist Gaming Realms with its goal of creating new Slingo players, while reinforcing the power of IGT’s brands in the fast-growing online market.”