Q&A with John Karantzis, CEO and Managing Director at iSignthis.

What does iSignthis offer the online gambling world, what made you decide to enter this fast-moving sector, and when? 

We are very active in the adjacent and also AML regulated market sector of FX, CFD’s, Binaries and securities. The gaming sector is a natural extension of our skills and competencies in our core market.

iSignthis Paydentity™ provides a unified identity and payment solution that maximises marketing ROI and significantly enhances on-boarding conversion.

Our patented technology unlocks the identity embedded within financial transactions in order to verify the customer whilst they are making a payment. This allows online gaming and gambling operators to not only ensure that they are paid upfront, but also provide the assurances that any payment can be used to on-board any ‘bank verified’ customer within 3 to 5 minutes, no matter where the customer is located. More importantly, the iSignthis technology provides operators with compliances to the 2017 UK MLR’s, the LCCP, the 4^th Anti-Money Laundering Directive (4AMLD) and the incoming Payment Service Directive 2 (PSD2).

Offering an identity and payment solution, how do you believe you can help iGaming companies to stay ahead of the competition? 

The UK market is effectively saturated. If they haven’t started already, operators will need to reach into new jurisdictions, either from the UK, or from “within” the jurisdiction. Many of these jurisdictions will not have the concessions around KYC, and will apply the full requirements of the 4AMLD (if in the EEA), or local regulation.

Together with iSignthis, operators are able to provide the most secure, compliant and user friendly on-boarding experience, in order to stay ahead of competition. Outside of the UK and Australia, electronic verification is not really feasible. The match rates are extremely low, and lead to low marketing ROI when measured against customer conversions.

In order to stay ahead of the game and avoid abandonment, iSignthis has built its technology around what is regulatory permissible in more than 48 countries to offer operators the best user experience. iSignthis’ approach relies on verification of a person via payment and banking data, which in turn means we are able to reach or “match verify” 62% of the world’s population who have been ‘bank verified’.

iSignthis provides high customer conversion rates and massively extends geographic reach, in order to increase revenues.

Which online gambling markets does iSignthis have a focus on and which one has been the most interesting so far and why?

Australia, UK, Gibraltar and the Isle of Man – in no particular order!

We are actively seeking partnerships in each of these areas, and have engaged with the gambling/gaming regulator in each of these jurisdictions to ensure that our services are understood, and meet their expectations.

We think that the UK is going to become interesting for us now that operators are at saturation point with conventional KYC checks via electronic verification, and are looking to convert an additional 22-27% conversion over and above their current level of match rates.

You’ve worked in a number of sectors, including defence, oil and gas, digital media, and payments. Targeting the iGaming industry, known as an ultra-competitive industry, do you experience difficulties in this sector you’ve never experienced before?

I think my experience across a number of sectors is actually beneficial to working with the gaming industry. My experience ex advertising with customer conversion, abandonment, campaign ROI, translates readily to any online business. My expertise in payment methods, conversion and abandonment is right in the current zone of hot topics. My formal degree qualifications in engineering, law and business provide me with a great basis to adapt my experience from one sector into another.

No industry has been reshaped quite so frequently by new technologies as the one iSignthis is trying to conquer. What’s innovative today, might be outdated tomorrow. How do you plan to stay on top of trends in such a rapidly changing market?

On that, Paypal’s patent for Micro Deposits is still powering payment instrument verification some 15 years after they patented it in the US and European Patent Area. Regulation moves very very slowly, and the changes to the 2017 MLR’s, the 4AMLD and the PSD2 have all been foreshadowed for a number of years now. We operate in a heavily regulated space that moves predictably. Whilst the products in the gaming industry may evolve quickly, the regulatory regime under which they sell them has not and neither has the means to get paid. Sure, there are more Alternative Payment Methods (APMs), but, these are ultimately funded by a card or bank transfer in the first place. APM’s are usually variations on the same theme, just aimed at different countries or demographics. Cards are still king for global ubiquity and instantaneousness.