Cross-border transactions are essential to the growth of fintech startups in Africa. However, these transactions can be risky due to fraud and errors that may occur during the process.
For example, take John, an online merchant in Nigeria, who faced a significant challenge in processing cross-border transactions due to incorrect or incomplete address details provided by his customers. This resulted in chargebacks, disputes, and a negative impact on his business reputation.
Address verification is a crucial tool to help fintech startups in Africa mitigate these risks and ensure the smooth processing of cross-border transactions. This article will explore the benefits of address verification for cross-border transactions.
What is Address Verification?
To mitigate his business challenges, John implemented an address verification process that helped him verify the address details of his customers and significantly reduced the number of chargebacks and disputes. This improved his business’s reputation, and he was able to process transactions more efficiently and comply with local and international regulations.
Address verification is the process of verifying the address of a customer or recipient to ensure that the information provided is accurate and up-to-date. This process involves cross-checking the address details provided by the customer with the information available in public records, and other reliable sources and physically visiting the address to validate the customer’s claims.
Benefits of Address Verification for Fintech Startups in Africa
Mitigating Fraud Risks
Address verification helps African fintech startups to mitigate fraud risks associated with cross-border transactions. Fraudsters often use fake or incorrect addresses to conceal their identity or location. Address verification helps to identify such fraudulent activities and flag suspicious transactions before they are completed.
Improving Transaction Success Rates
Address verification improves transaction success rates by ensuring that the customer or recipient’s address is valid and up-to-date. This helps to reduce transaction failures due to incorrect or incomplete address details. By verifying the address details of the customer, fintech startups in Africa can ensure that transactions are processed quickly and efficiently.
Reducing Chargebacks and Disputes
Chargebacks and disputes can be a significant challenge for African fintech startups, especially for cross-border transactions. Address verification helps to reduce chargebacks and disputes by ensuring that the correct address is provided during the transaction process. This helps to reduce the likelihood of disputes due to incorrect delivery or non-delivery of goods or services.
Improving Customer Experience
Address verification can improve the customer experience by reducing the time and effort required to complete a transaction. By verifying the address details of the customer or recipient, fintech startups in Africa can reduce the need for manual verification and streamline the transaction process.
Complying with Regulatory Requirements
Address verification is a necessity for complying with regulatory requirements in many countries. By verifying the address details of customers and recipients, fintech startups in Africa can ensure compliance with local and international regulations.
How to make Address Verification work for your Fintech
A study by Experian found that 22% of all online transactions failed due to incorrect or incomplete address details. This highlights the importance of address verification in improving transaction success rates for fintech startups in Africa.
Partnering with an identity verification startup like Verified.africa can provide an essential component for efficient address verification. We provide the necessary tools and expertise to verify the identity and address details of your customers and partners without hassle.
For instance, if a customer is signing up for a fintech service, they can provide their identity documents like a national identity record, which can be verified using our services. Once the identity is verified, the customer’s address details will be physically verified in 24-72 hours to ensure accuracy. This can help fintech startups in Africa to build trust with their customers, reduce risks associated with cross-border transactions, and streamline the transaction process.
For example, as a fintech company, Bamboo requires customers to submit a National Identification Number (NIN) and Bank Verification Number (BVN), on signup. These two forms of identification are unique to each Nigerian. By authenticating these details in real-time, we solved the problem of dual identities, which Bamboo was facing, helping to process over 5,000 signups monthly.
Another fintech, Fincra, uses our address verification service to validate the addresses of their customers on sign-up, enabling them to process payments for businesses swiftly.
An effective address verification process can help fintech startups in Africa build trust with their customers and partners and pave the way for long-term growth and success.
To get started with Verified.africa’s address verification service, sign up by clicking this link!
