Global FinTech Awards: Facia Wins Project of the Year

Facia has won the Project of the Year Award at The Global FinTech Awards 2024.

Facia's groundbreaking project leverages advanced AI-driven biometric solutions to address a critical challenge in the fintech industry: secure and seamless customer onboarding.

In response to the increasing sophistication of fraud, including deepfakes and 3D mask attacks, Facia developed an AI-powered liveness detection algorithm that verifies identities in under one second.

This technology, certified by NIST with iBeta level 2 compliance, offers the fastest liveness verification in the industry and is capable of detecting spoofing attempts with 0% false acceptance rate (FAR) and less than 1% false rejection rate (FRR).

This innovation not only strengthens security but also provides a frictionless user experience, driving both customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.

Collaboration is central to the project's success.

Facia's platform integrates seamlessly within fintech ecosystems, enabling continuous authentication and secure sharing of customer data across different departments, such as compliance and sales.

The platform's adherence to GDPR standards ensures that personal information is protected while allowing stakeholders to collaborate effectively on transaction monitoring and customer management.

The impact of Facia’s technology is significant. By detecting over 100,000 spoof attempts out of 10 million verifications, Facia has drastically reduced fraud for its clients.

The company’s solution has not only lowered costs associated with fraudulent activities but has also enhanced the onboarding experience, leading to reduced customer churn.

This dual focus on security and customer convenience positions Facia as a key enabler of fintech growth.

Facia’s project contributes to the fintech industry's broader development by fostering trust and enabling regulatory compliance. Its innovative use of facial recognition technology ensures fintech firms can scale securely, driving industry disruption while maintaining consumer confidence.

The project’s success, highlighted by accolades such as iBeta certification and recognition at GITEX Africa, signals its pivotal role in shaping the future of fintech security.

The awards

Launched in 2024, The Global FinTech Awards 2024 debuted at FinTech LIVE London Global Summit 2024.

Across 14 categories, the awards celebrated those companies, professionals and projects that consistently ensure that excellence and innovation lie at the forefront of their work. 

The awards set a benchmark for excellence across the industry and drive innovation in payment technology, digital banking, fraud verification and more.

“It was an honour to spotlight such a wide range of incredible companies at the inaugural FinTech Awards,” said Glen White, CEO of BizClik, FinTech Magazine.

“At a time where digital inclusion and easy access to finance is crucial for fostering economic growth, reducing poverty, and promoting social equity, it is important to celebrate the success of those in the fintech industry that are revolutionising traditional financial services through the integration of technology.

“To host the awards during FinTech LIVE London is an incredible moment for the sector to celebrate, we encourage many more companies to enter our awards for 2025. 

“Thanks to every company that entered - it's important that you stay focused, motivated and continuously innovate and I am excited to see so much more of Generative AI when we meet again in a year’s time.

And a big congratulations to every company who entered, those that are highly commended and of course to our 14 winners – we appreciate your input more than you know.”

The Project of the Year Award

The Project of the Year Award recognises outstanding projects that embody innovation, collaboration, and transformative impact in the fintech and insurtech industries.

• How does your project demonstrate innovative use of technology to address a specific industry challenge or opportunity? 
• How does your project showcase effective collaboration and partnership within the fintech or insurtech ecosystem? 
• What measurable outcomes or impact has your project achieved in terms of driving industry advancements or improving customer experiences? 
• How does your project contribute to the overall growth, sustainability, or disruption of the fintech or insurtech landscape?

The shortlisted companies included-

• AML Watcher
• Facia
• Open Banking Limited (The Automation Programme)
• Pulse
• The MTN Group (MTN Online)

Highly Commended: Open Banking Limited (The Automation Programme)

Open Banking Limited’s (OBL) Automation Programme represents a significant advancement in the fintech landscape, addressing industry challenges through innovative technology.

The project’s core achievement lies in its transformation of OBL’s Directory—a central component of the UK’s open banking ecosystem.

By enhancing the Directory’s functionality and improving user experience, the Automation Programme has streamlined the process of onboarding participants, reducing reliance on manual intervention and creating a scalable solution to support the growing demand for open banking services.

The programme has introduced a faster, more resilient and secure onboarding process, enabling third-party providers (TPPs) to enrol in the Directory and interact with Account Servicing Payment Service Providers (ASPSPs) via APIs.

This improvement has resulted in better customer management, seamless processing of digital certificates and more secure transactions, reducing risks related to manual errors and insider threats.

The Automation Programme also aligns with the Joint Regulatory Oversight Committee (JROC) levelling-up initiative, fostering more cost-effective and inclusive access to services across the fintech ecosystem.

Collaboration has been central to the project’s success. Led by Helen and Amarjit, the Ecosystem Services Project Team worked cohesively to deliver the automation solution across three separate service pathways.

This project showcases the values of trust and innovation, enabling the Directory to support the enrolment and validation of TPPs while improving operational efficiency for ASPSPs. By automating key processes, the project has advanced industry standards, ensuring a smoother experience for end users.

The measurable outcomes of the project are clear. OBL now supports over 9.8 million users, with May 2024 seeing the highest number of open banking transactions to date.

The Automation Programme has played a crucial role in this growth, setting the stage for OBL to surpass 10 million users and ensuring a secure, sustainable foundation for the continued expansion of the UK’s open banking ecosystem.

The Global FinTech Awards 2024

Thanks to our esteemed panel of industry leaders who judged the awards:

• Stephen Roche, President and Co-Founder of Saphyre
• Nick Levy, Partner at IBM Consulting
• Daniel Yubi, Chief Executive Officer at Payable
• Jaideep Pawar, Founder & CEO of GRAMePAY
• Steve Suarez, External Advisor at Bain & Company
• Georgios Samakovitis, Professor of FinTech at University of Greenwich
• David Palmer, Blockchain Lead Vodafone Business IoT at Vodafone Business 
• Russell Fisher, COO Admiral Pioneer at Admiral Group
• Jsmeet Narang, Chief Transformation Officer and Director of Financial Crime at Santander

The full list of awards categories for 2024 is:

• Digital Banking Award
• Payment Technology Award
• Financial Services Award
• AI in FinTech Award
• Fraud & ID Verification Award
• Sustainable FinTech Award
• Finance Technology Award
• FinTech Consultancy Award
• Future Leader Award
• Executive of the Year Award
• Project of the Year Award
• Lifetime Achievement Award
• Social Enterprise Award
• Start-Up Award

Essential diary dates for 2025

FinTech LIVE continues to expand its LIVE events with more to come in 2025 - discover the essential diary dates below.

2025:

• FinTech LIVE Singapore | 25 February 
• InsurTech LIVE | 1 May
• FinTech LIVE Dubai | 6 May
• FinTech LIVE New York | 17 June
• FinTech LIVE London | 7-8 October
• FinTech Awards | 7 October

Make sure you check out the latest edition of FinTech Magazine and also sign up to our global conference series – FinTech LIVE 2024.

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