When it comes to consumer credit, Sofinco puts clients first. The Crédit Agricole Group subsidiary knows that providing high-quality banking products also requires an exceptional customer experience. With 17 million customers worldwide and a wide range of products, including personal loans, debt purchases, revolving credit, and more, maintaining the highest standards for personal security is critical.
In late 2019, Crédit Agricole held the “100% compliance” content competition where the Checkout.com team pitched Identity Verification to the group’s compliance departments. Impressed with the video capabilities and user-forward design, Sofinco moved to a proof of concept.
A credit application is a highly regulated process, and as a leader in consumer credit, Sofinco takes zero risks in protecting its customers. An application requires individuals to provide proof of identity to determine creditworthiness. While this step is necessary to prevent fraud, it creates friction and often derails the customer experience.
With AMLD5 implementation into French law, the regulation introduced a simplification for the requested evidence from customers. The systematic obligation to verify domicile prior to opening a bank account is suppressed and the use of electronic means of identification with a substantial level of guarantee is authorized. The Sofinco team saw this as the perfect time to build a streamlined customer experience and knew Checkout.com’s video-based solution was the right tool to create an invulnerable workflow.
“The relationship process is central to consumer credit, and we wanted to optimize the existing experience. We were drawn to [Checkout.com’s] promise of a secure and streamlined user experience. We had three goals: making the customer experience more secure, being compliant, and turning prospects into customers,” says Ophelie Robin, Director of Digital Innovation at Crédit Agricole Consumer Finance.
In just three months, Identity Verification was connected to a part of Sofinco’s workflow while the other part remained unchanged — making it possible for the teams to compare outcomes from the two processes among 11,000 Sofinco customers.
Over the next eight months, Sofinco saw exceptional conversions and fraud protection results. The application completion rate was over 80% on mobile devices — a significant increase in mobile conversions. 70% of the users who completed verification received an actionable response, meaning that the file was declared valid or invalid. Also, attempts at wrongdoing significantly decreased.
The Sofinco team discovered that protecting customers also serves as an opportunity to simplify the customer experience and improve conversion. Ophelie adds, “In this changing regulatory environment, [Checkout.com] has helped us streamline many stages of our customers’ experience. This improves the process while remaining easy and educational for our users.”
This article was adapted from ubble and Sofinco’s original case study regarding ubble’s Video Expert tool, now known as Checkout.com’s Identity Verification. For more information about Checkout.com’s acquisition of ubble, read here.
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