Real-Time Onfido KYC Integration (Entrust), Delivered with Zero Downtime
Overview
This is a real-time Onfido identity verification integration built for a confidential Canadian digital identity platform, extending its KYC compliance stack to cover 2,500+ document types across multiple jurisdictions.
Quick note on naming: Onfido was acquired and now operates as Entrust — the underlying platform, technology, and integration approach are unchanged. This case study refers to it as “Onfido (Entrust)” throughout, since both names are in active use across search and industry conversation.
Per Onfido's own published benchmark data, businesses using its IDV platform catch fraud in 20% more stages of the customer journey than non-users, and save an average of $8M+ in prevented fraud. That's the ceiling this integration was built to reach for the client's platform.
Document types now supported across jurisdictions
Build ran alongside live platform development — zero downtime
2 yrsOngoing development partnership since the initial integration
A scanned ID and
a checkbox are no longer enough
Fraud is harder to catch
Synthetic identities and AI-generated documents were slipping past simple pass/fail ID checks.
Regulators expect an auditable trail
KYC compliance now demands robust, real-time document verification as a baseline, not a nice-to-have.
Coverage had to span jurisdictions
The platform serves customers across multiple countries — broad document coverage was non-negotiable.
Zero tolerance for downtime
The integration had to run in parallel with live platform development, without interrupting the product roadmap.
A banking-grade Onfido (Entrust) integration, built without slowing the roadmap
Identity verification API integration
The Euristiq team connected the client’s backend system to Onfido’s verification infrastructure via secure API, working in Java and Golang. We established authentication token management, configured API keys, and set up the full webhook layer for real-time result delivery — enabling document submission, result retrieval, and automatic extraction of personal information.
Web & mobile SDK initialization
We integrated Onfido’s Web SDK and Mobile SDK (iOS/Android), giving end users a ready-made interface for photographing ID documents and selfies. The verification flow — accepted document types, the steps users go through — was configured to match the client’s exact onboarding requirements.
Branded web & mobile UI customization
Euristiq engineers customized Onfido’s verification interface to match the client’s platform branding — logo, colors, fonts, and interactive elements — so the verification experience felt native to the product rather than a third-party hand-off.
Webhook architecture for real-time results
Rather than continuously polling Onfido for status, our team implemented a secure webhook integration. When a verification completes — approved, flagged, or escalated — the result is pushed to the platform in real time, and access is granted immediately on approval.
Custom verification report decisioning
Building logic on top of Onfido’s layered breakdown tree was the most technically demanding part of the integration. We implemented custom decisioning across every verification category — data validation, data consistency, data comparison, image integrity, visual authenticity, and compromised-document detection.
Advanced fraud detection features
We enabled Onfido’s Repeat Attempts feature to flag reused identity documents across different onboarding sessions in real time, and turned on OCR-powered autofill, which validates document eligibility instantly and steers users away from expired or unsupported documents before submission.
Powering identity verification infrastructure with AWS
Zero downtime, two years and counting
Zero-downtime integration
The full integration ran alongside live platform development over six months — no service interruptions, no rollbacks.
Real-time verification at scale
End users verify their identity in seconds through a seamless onboarding flow — on web, iOS, or Android.
Multi-jurisdiction document support
The platform now supports 2,500+ document types, onboarding customers without manual-review bottlenecks.
Sophisticated fraud detection
Custom breakdown decisioning, repeat-attempt blocking, and real-time eligibility checks guard against both opportunistic and elaborate fraud.
Seamless branded experience
The verification flow is fully integrated with the client’s visual identity — no visible third-party hand-off.
A long-term development partner
Two years of ongoing collaboration have expanded provider support, added mobile SDK capability, and prepared the platform for security audits.
Integrating Onfido or another KYC provider?
Frequently asked questions
Is Onfido a good KYC provider for fintech companies?
Yes — Onfido (now rebranded as Entrust) is one of the most capable identity verification platforms for fintech KYC, supporting over 2,500 document types across multiple jurisdictions. Rather than a simple pass/fail check, its verification pipeline runs OCR extraction and returns a layered breakdown report covering data validation, visual authenticity, and document consistency. That granularity is exactly what banking-grade KYC compliance requires, though it also means the integration work is non-trivial — interpreting the breakdown tree correctly and building sound decisioning logic on top of it takes deep platform familiarity.
How does Onfido’s identity verification process work?
A user submits a photo of an ID — a passport, driver’s licence, national ID, visa, or residence permit — and Onfido’s engine runs it through a multi-layer pipeline. OCR (Optical Character Recognition) extraction converts the image into machine-readable data such as name, date of birth, document number, and expiry date, then the system validates that data against integrity checks: visual authenticity, image quality, and data consistency. The result is a structured breakdown report rather than a binary pass/fail, which the business then uses to approve, flag, or escalate the verification for human review.
What does a KYC verification service integration involve?
A KYC verification service integration typically covers five layers: a secure API connection to the vendor’s verification infrastructure, Web and Mobile SDK setup so users can capture ID photos and selfies natively, branded UI customization so the flow matches the platform’s look and feel, a webhook architecture for pushing real-time results instead of polling for status, and custom decisioning logic built on top of the vendor’s verification categories. Done well, it runs alongside live product development without downtime and extends to cover multiple jurisdictions and document types.
Is Onfido the same company as Entrust?
Yes — Onfido was acquired and is now operating under the Entrust brand, though the underlying identity verification platform and technology are the same. Integration work completed under the Onfido name, including document verification, OCR-based data extraction, and fraud decisioning, carries over directly to Entrust. For a business evaluating either name, the practical due diligence is identical: document coverage, decisioning granularity, and integration effort are the same regardless of which brand name is currently in use.
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