31 October 2026 · By Micheal Akinkuotu, Founder
Every bank, fintech, insurer and lender has to know who its customers are before serving them: check their identity documents and ID numbers against official records, screen them against sanctions and politically exposed persons lists, and decide what level of account or cover they qualify for. In Nigeria, for example, every bank account and wallet must carry a BVN or NIN checked electronically against official records.
Each check is simple. Doing thousands of them the same way, catching the ones that don't add up, and keeping a record of each is the hard part.
The work today
Officers copy details from application forms into verification portals, compare names and dates of birth by eye, and queue anything that doesn't line up: a different name order, a missing middle name, an initial instead of a name. Screening is a separate step in a separate tool. When applications peak, the queue grows and customers wait days for accounts that should open the same day.
How MadeEasy runs it
For every application, MadeEasy runs the same checks in the same order:
| Step | What happens | Done by |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Receive | Takes the application from your app, website or a branch upload, with the ID and supporting documents. | Automatic |
| 2. Read | Extracts the name, date of birth, ID numbers and address from the documents and the form. | AI |
| 3. Verify | Looks up the ID numbers through the verification service you already use, and compares the name, date of birth and photo-match result with the application. | Automatic |
| 4. Screen | Runs sanctions and PEP screening through your screening provider and applies your risk rating rules. | Automatic |
| 5. Route | Gives clean applications the account level your rules allow. Mismatches, name variations and higher-risk cases go to a person with a side-by-side summary. | Automatic AI |
| 6. Decide | A compliance officer approves, asks the customer for more, or declines. | Your team |
Automatic: the system does it the same way every time, following your rules. AI: reads documents and writes summaries. Your team: makes every decision.
MadeEasy does not replace your verification or screening provider. It runs the checks through your own accounts with them, applies your rules consistently, and writes the summary your compliance officer reads.
The same process covers new customer onboarding, periodic reviews of existing customers, business customers with their registration documents and directors, and agent or merchant onboarding.
Controls your auditors will look for
- A complete record for every application: what was submitted, what each lookup returned, which rules applied, and who decided.
- Rules for acceptable name variations written down once and applied the same way every time.
- Every borderline or higher-risk case decided by a named person, never by the system alone.
- Runs in your own cloud if your policies require it, so customer data stays in your environment.
Setting it up
- Connect the application channel. Your app, website form or branch uploads.
- Connect your verification and screening accounts. The ID lookups and screening you already pay for.
- Write down the rules. What each account level needs, which name variations are acceptable, and what counts as higher risk.
- Test on past applications. Including ones you declined; go-live is refused until MadeEasy reaches the same outcomes and routes every case to the right person.
- Run alongside your team. Both check the same applications for a period before switching over.
What it costs
An identity check like this is a Medium build: $500 (₦600,000) one-off if we build it, including its first year on MadeEasy Cloud, typically 3 to 4 weeks to go live. Each application is one run: the Cloud Per process plan covers 2,000 a month, and the Team plan 25,000 across up to 10 processes. Self-hosted is priced for your organisation. See pricing.
Questions teams ask
Does it replace our verification provider?
No. It uses your existing verification and screening services through your own accounts, so your contracts and data agreements stay as they are.
What happens with name mismatches?
Variations you accept, such as a different name order, are written as rules and applied consistently. Anything else goes to a compliance officer with the application and the official record side by side.
What will auditors and regulators see?
For each application: what was submitted, what each check returned, which rule applied, who made the decision, and when.
Sources
- "CBN to PND any bank account or wallet without BVN, NIN from 2024", Nairametrics, for the Nigerian example.