Shufti, FTAHK set APAC webinar on address verification shift

By AI, Created 2:10 PM UTC, May 22, 2026, /AGP/ – Shufti and the FinTech Association of Hong Kong will host a live webinar on 27 May 2026 to examine when APAC firms can move from document-based proof of address to docless verification. The panel comes as regulators and infrastructure changes across the region make legacy onboarding checks more costly and harder to defend.

Why it matters: - Address verification is one of the biggest friction points in digital onboarding across APAC. - The shift from document-based checks to risk-based, docless verification could reduce conversion loss, fraud exposure, and audit backlog for banks, fintechs, and other regulated firms. - The debate is especially relevant as regulatory and data infrastructure changes outpace legacy onboarding rules.

What happened: - Shufti announced a live APAC webinar with the FinTech Association of Hong Kong titled “Rethinking Address Verification in APAC: From Proof of Address to Docless Verification.” - The session is scheduled for Wednesday, 27 May 2026, at 5:00 PM HKT. - Registration is open for compliance, risk, fraud, and product leaders across APAC. - The event is a moderated virtual panel with live audience Q&A. - Registrants will receive the session recording and a one-page version of the framework after the event.

The details: - The panel includes Shirley Liang, Legal and Compliance COO at DBS Bank, as moderator. - Utpal Patel, Partner at EY, will discuss the regulatory landscape across the region. - Nisha Subramanian, Global Head of Onboarding at Aspire, will focus on SME payments onboarding under MAS supervision. - Ammara Mukhtar, Regional Vice President, Sales APAC at Shufti, will discuss what the company sees across its APAC client base. - The session will examine when firms can drop document-based proof of address, when they must keep it, and how to defend that decision to auditors. - The discussion will cover where document-based verification breaks, how enhanced document processing changes the control model, where docless verification works, and a five-variable framework covering product risk, customer risk, transaction limits, data availability, and audit defensibility. - The agenda also includes the regulatory direction of travel across APAC, production use cases from regulated firms, and what good looks like in markets with mature digital ID rails. - The webinar is aimed at compliance, risk, fraud, and product leaders at digital and incumbent banks, payment institutions, e-money issuers, brokerages, licensed crypto exchanges, lenders, BNPL providers, and insurers running digital channels in APAC. - The registration link is available here.

Between the lines: - APAC regulators are moving away from prescriptive document rules and toward risk-based verification. - Vietnam is a notable example, with Resolution 60-NQ/TW in April 2025 collapsing the country’s administrative structure from three tiers to two, effective 1 July 2025. - That change forces identity documents in the old format to reconcile against the new structure, creating a live onboarding challenge for firms serving Vietnamese customers. - The webinar positions enhanced document processing not as a replacement for compliance, but as a way to turn documents into forensic evidence where documents are still required. - The focus on docless verification suggests firms are being pushed to justify controls with data, not just paperwork.

What’s next: - The webinar will take place on 27 May 2026 and include live audience questions. - Shufti and FTAHK will distribute the session recording and framework after the event. - The discussion is likely to inform how APAC firms decide whether proof-of-address documents remain necessary in future onboarding flows.

The bottom line: - APAC onboarding is moving toward a narrower question: not whether firms can verify address, but when documents are still the best control and when data-driven alternatives are defensible.