Agos Identity: 10x Cost-Efficient eKYC
Building a BSP-compliant verification engine that reduces identity verification costs by 85% for local fintech SMEs.
Timeline
Jan 2026 - Present
Status
Beta / Active Dev97.2%
Verification Accuracy
12s
Avg Processing
₱19
Starting Cost/Check
80%
Bandwidth Reduced
THE CHALLENGE
Industry Pain Points in the PH Market
Global KYC vendors charge up to ₱168 per check—a prohibitive cost for local SMEs and lending cooperatives.
"Opening a bank account shouldn't take three days of paperwork..."
— Market Fragmentation
"Data-heavy verification flows fail constantly on provincial 4G connections..."
— Technical Gap
MARKET ANALYSIS
Local Specialization vs. Global Generic
| Vendor | Cost/Check | PH ID Support | Local Hosting |
|---|---|---|---|
| Common Global Vendors | ₱84 - ₱168 | Limited | ❌ No |
| Agos Identity | ₱19 - ₱25 | ✅ All 11 IDs | ✅ Yes (LightNode) |
DISCOVERY & VALIDATION
Strategic Insights
Price sensitivity is the primary blocker
Credit bundle model reduces processing fees to ~5% vs ~40% per-trans
Edge processing is mandatory for mobile
Dynamic client-side compression to <1.5MB solved 413 upload errors
Compliance is the actual product
Automated audit logs and 24-hour data purge satisfy NPC guidelines
Solution Overview
Strategic Decisions
Combatting Digital Fraud
Implemented Forensic Validation: Cryptographic verification of PDF417/QR data to detect forgery.
Resilience for Low Bandwidth
Developed Hybrid Camera Engine with automated fallback to native capture for hardware reliability.
Build Phases
Build Phases
Q1 2026: Foundation
Hybrid OCR engine, server-side verification pipeline, PH ID classifier.
Q1-Q2 2026: Security & Beta
Forensic barcode validation, PayMongo integration, closed beta with 3 partners.
Lessons Learned
Strategic Reflections
Build for the worst-case connectivity
If it doesn't work on 3G in Mindanao, it doesn't work for the Philippines.
Price is the P0 feature
Technology is the tool, but the 85% cost reduction is the value proposition.