Ghanaian banking professional Bernard Osei Karikari progressed through Zenith Bank Ghana’s 2013 Battle of the Minds innovation competition with a proposal aimed at improving customer verification and the detection of potentially fraudulent documents.
Karikari entered the competition with VeriTrust, a proposed Enterprise Identity Verification and Fraud Intelligence Platform designed to support fraud prevention, customer due diligence and enterprise risk management.
Competition documentation identifies Karikari, who was then working in the bank’s Electronic Banking Department, as the author of the proposal.
He was among 15 professionals nominated to participate in the competition and progressed through its various stages, including the Intrazonals on 15 June 2013 and the Finals on 30 November 2013.
The VeriTrust concept addressed a challenge faced by financial institutions when assessing information provided by customers. Banks routinely rely on identity documents, bank statements, employment information, proof of address and other records when opening accounts, assessing loan applications and providing financial services.
Karikari’s proposal argued that fraudulent or manipulated documents could expose financial institutions to risks including identity fraud, loan fraud, money laundering and financial losses.
Under the proposed VeriTrust framework, customer documents would be electronically assessed for authenticity, completeness and consistency. Information such as names, dates of birth, identification numbers, addresses, employment records and financial details could also be cross-referenced to identify discrepancies.
Potential anomalies would then be flagged for further investigation and incorporated into standardised reports.
The proposal also included a multi-layered approach to fraud intelligence. Rather than relying solely on individual document checks, the system was designed to assess information across a customer’s profile and identify inconsistencies between different records.
Karikari envisaged the system operating beyond individual bank branches, with a centralised repository for fraud-related information. Such a system could allow management to analyse information across different operations, identify recurring patterns and monitor potential exposure to fraud.
The proposal also considered technologies including biometric identity verification, mobile-banking authentication, centralised customer-risk profiling, cross-border verification and predictive fraud analytics.
Karikari’s progress in the Battle of the Minds competition highlighted his attempt to apply technology to a significant challenge in banking: establishing confidence in customer information while managing fraud and compliance risks.
The VeriTrust concept brought together several areas of financial technology, including identity verification, document analysis, fraud analytics, KYC and AML compliance, and enterprise risk monitoring.
His participation came at a time when Ghana’s financial-services industry was increasingly adopting digital technologies, highlighting the role that locally developed technology concepts could play in addressing challenges around fraud prevention, regulatory compliance and trust in financial services.
