Reported by PYMNTS

(Excerpt shared below. To read full report, go to: https://www.pymnts.com/authentication/digital-identity/2026/banks-target-repeat-checks-that-drive-customers-away/)

A SOLO pilot is testing reusable verification records across participating banks and FinTechs while leaving compliance decisions with each receiving institution. 

Participating institutions can use different verification processes; the pilot standardizes how completed work is documented and evaluated. 

The project will test whether prior verification can reduce repeated customer checks without requiring institutions to accept another firm’s risk judgment. 

A Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN)-observed pilot is testing whether completed customer verification work can be documented in standardized records and evaluated by other financial institutions.

The pilot is being coordinated with the U.S. Treasury Department, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. It comes as PYMNTS Intelligence data shows that banks and FinTechs contend with inconsistent verification results, excessive checks and onboarding friction.

Here’s how the current system works. A customer who clears identity verification at one financial institution can still be required to repeat much of the process when opening another account elsewhere. For banks and FinTechs trying to move more customers through digital onboarding, those repeated checks add another layer of cost and friction to a process already producing inconsistent results.

The PYMNTS Intelligence report “When ‘Good Enough’ Isn’t Enough: Digital Identity Verification in the Age of Bots and Agents” found in January that 74.6% of financial services firms said their verification technology produces inconsistent identity results. Customer friction from excessive checks was reported by 56.3%, while 46.5% said different identity platforms produce different results, and 43.7% cited high manual review costs.

According to the report, 76% of financial services firms generate at least three-quarters of their revenue through digital channels, putting identity verification directly into the customer-acquisition process for much of the industry.

Problems during verification can carry through to growth. The report found that 76.1% of financial services firms said know your customer (KYC) and know your business (KYB) processes have prevented them from adding or expanding customers, markets or geographies. Onboarding abandonment caused by friction was cited by 55%, and 49% reported onboarding delays that hurt conversion or time to value.

The pilot, announced by the SOLO Network, is testing whether financial institutions can reduce one source of that repetition by making completed customer verification work reusable.

SOLO said this month in a press release that it launched a FinCEN-observed bank-reliance pilot. The announcement, which likens the effort to a “TSA PreCheck,” said the effort is designed to allow trusted customer verification to move among participating financial institutions rather than requiring customers to restart the process with every new relationship.