KBC's Check who's there! Qorus-Infosys Finacle Banking Innovation Awards 2025- Nominated

Banking and helpdesk fraude is steadily increasing

1. Concept and objectives 'Check who's there' is KBC's innovative response to a growing customer need; the ability to verify in real-time whether they are truly in contact with a KBC employee. This feature, integrated into both KBC Mobile and KBC Touch, empowers customers to confirm the authenticity of phone calls, appointments, and even visits form KBC Representatives. The goal is twofold: to enhance customer trust in digital interactions and to proactively combat fraud, especially impersonation scams. The solution is designed to be instant, intuitive, and frictionless requiring no personal data input from the customer and in most cases no manual intervention by employees.

2. Reasons behind The rise in phishing and impersonation fraud has eroded customer confidence in unsolicited contact from financial institutions. Customers increasingly question whether a call or appointment is legitimate, especially when asked to act in digital channels. This hesitation undermines both trust and engagement. 'Check who's there' was born from this insight: a way of restoring confidence by giving customers a simple, secure means of verifying the authenticity of contacts in real-time.

3. The Competition While some banks have introduced reactive fraud alerts or post-interaction confirmations, KBC is the first bank in Belgium ) and among the first in Europe - to offer a proactive, real-time verification tool embedded directly in its digital platforms which requires no input of personal information by the user. Unlike competitors who rely on manual callbacks or SMS confirmations, KBC's solution is fully integrated with its CRM and telephony systems, enabling seamless and automated verification for the majority of customer interactions in the first release.

4. Source of inspiration The project evolved from the 'Kate Knows You' initiative, which initially focused on digital authentication and delivering reactive, contextual information to customers about the KBC colleague who was contacting them. A pivotal insight emerged during service design workshops: customers should not have to rely on employee reassurance; they should be able to verify the authenticity of a contact themselves. This shift in perspective - from internal control to customer empowerment - led to the development of 'Check who's there' as a standalone, customer-facing feature.

5. Departments involved This initiative is a cross-functional collaboration involving Human Channels, Fraud Monitoring, Digital Channels, and Customer Experience teams. Key contributors include policy advisers, product managers, fraud analysts, UX designers, and IT architects. The project also engaged stakeholders from Commercial Banking Private Banking, Retail Banking and Insurances to ensure alignment across all customer segments.

6. Main results so far The first release, June 2025, covers the majority of KBC's outbound calls, appointments, and even visits from KBC representatives, with full integration into the Mobile and Touch platforms. A national awareness campaign is planned, supported tutorials and financial education via the KBC Learning Academy.