New strategic partnership enables Open Banking-powered user verification across Europe

We have partnered with Volt, the global real-time payments platform. In this new strategic open banking partnership, Volt will power Sumsub’s Penny Drop Verification flow, which involves an end user being directed to their banking app after scanning their identity document.

Once a user accesses their banking app, they will be asked to make a 1c payment – via Volt’s hosted checkout – which is later returned to the end user in real time. Matchmeter, one of Volt’s AIS solutions, will match the data in the payment flow – specifically the name of the account holder – to the name in the end user’s identity document.

Utilising Volt’s PIS (Payment Initiation Services) and AIS (Account Information Services) open banking capabilities across Europe, the partnership is enabling Sumsub to enhance its market-leading onboarding and identity verification products.

This additional layer is especially important in markets such as Germany, where the end user’s qualified electronic signature (QES) is often used to complete the verification process. Possessing the same legal power as a handwritten signature, a QES is recognised as a compliant identification method by European Union Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulators. Ensuring the validity of a QES signatory’s information is therefore essential to businesses onboarding new users at scale.

Commenting on the partnership, Andrew Novoselsky, Chief Product Officer at Sumsub, said: “With regulatory landscapes becoming more complex and fraud evolving at an alarming pace, businesses need verification solutions that are both compliant and frictionless. Europe saw the second-highest increase in fraud globally, with cases surging 150% year-over-year – driven in part by increasingly sophisticated fraud tactics.

“AI-powered fraud is escalating rapidly, with deepfake-driven fraud alone increasing 4x worldwide from 2023 to 2024. These rising threats highlight the urgent need for secure, real-time verification. Our Penny Drop Verification solution ensures businesses can confidently stay ahead of increasingly advanced fraud attempts, safeguard their operations and protect users in an increasingly risky digital world.”

Matthew Rickard, Volt’s Senior Partnerships Manager, added: “Working with Sumsub exemplifies Volt’s commitment to partnering with innovative brands that recognise the value of real-time networks within their technical infrastructure. From day one, Sumsub has had a clear vision of unifying the consumer verification experience across multiple markets. Volt’s global orchestration of account-to-account networks aligns closely with this vision, and I’m excited to continue driving this innovation forward.”