Do not invest more money than you can afford to lose.
The Swiss forex broker Dukascopy Bank announced it is introducing the video identification process for new clients and is cutting the time necessary for client onboarding from at least 10 days to 1 hour.
“From now on, opening an account and starting to trade at Dukascopy Bank can be done within 1 hour,” the broker said.
The new feature is introduced after the Swiss regulator FINMA approved video identification in a circular from March 2016. In the meantime, Dukascopy Bank developed an in-house video-based onboarding solution. It allows clients to identify themselves in a video session, instead of sending by post a certified copy of Identity Document (ID) and go through a long bureaucratic procedure lasting between 10 days and a month.
Another novelty introduced by Dukascopy Bank is the option for clients to execute contracts fully online, without having to print, sign and post documents to the broker. Once opened, the account can be funded instantly by credit card and used immediately.
Opening a live trading account with Dukascopy Bank, however, will still require filling in of online forms, but the broker promises to optimize the process and improve the user experience.
Both the video identification and the transfer of online contracts happens through the broker’s proprietary system Dukascopy Connect and the information is stored on its own servers in Switzerland.
For the time being, the new video identification and online contract signing procedures will be available only for physical persons who wish to become Dukascopy Bank clients. The opening of joint corporate accounts will still need to go through the slow ID certification procedure and paper contracts.
“Dukascopy Bank puts its video-identification technology at the disposal of all Swiss and foreign banks, completely for free,” said Andrey Duka, co-CEO-CTO and founding shareholder of Dukascopy Bank. “We are very much grateful to the Swiss Bankers Association and to its members, in particular to Swissquote Bank, for their active support to our initiative started in December 2014 for obtaining a modernisation of Swiss regulation regarding client onboarding in Switzerland.”
Earlier this week Dukascopy reported a record income for H1 2016.
Dukascopy Bank, set up in 2004, is based in Switzerland’s Geneva and operated globally through offices in Zurich, Riga, Kiev, Moscow, Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong. It is licensed as a bank and as a securities dealer by Switzerland’s Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA). The company owns 100% in brokerage Dukascopy Europe IBS , e-payments provider Dukascopy Payments, both based in Latvia, as well as Japanese broker Dukascopy Japan K.K., formerly Alpari Japan K.K.
