Chiba Bank Adopts Online Identity Verification Service "LIQUID eKYC" with Public Personal Authentication (JPKI), Facial Capture, and Passive Facial Judgment Option for WEB Account Opening
Chiba Bank has adopted Liquid's "LIQUID eKYC" service for online account opening, integrating public personal authentication (JPKI) with facial capture and passive facial judgment to enhance security and prevent fraud.
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- 📰 Published: April 3, 2026 at 00:30
Liquid Inc. (Headquarters: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director: Takaki Hasegawa), a member of the ELEMENTS Group, will provide its online identity verification service "LIQUID eKYC," including public personal authentication (JPKI)*1, facial capture, and a passive facial judgment option*2, for WEB account opening offered by The Chiba Bank, Ltd. (Headquarters: Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture; President: Tsutomu Yonemoto).
This integration allows facial capture to complement the weakness of public personal authentication (JPKI), where "fraudulent applications are possible if both the card and PIN are available," thereby achieving more stringent identity verification. Furthermore, by performing facial capture with passive judgment*3, it prevents attackers from using deepfake or similar methods to bypass active judgment*4, providing more robust security.
*1 A method compliant with Article 6, Paragraph 1, Item 1 (k) of the Ordinance for Enforcement of the Act on Prevention of Transfer of Criminal Proceeds (Act on Prevention of Transfer of Criminal Proceeds).
*2 "LIQUID eKYC" Equipped with New Judgment Function to Prevent Impersonation during Face Authentication" (May 31, 2023) https://liquidinc.asia/2023-05-31/
*3 A function performed solely from a frontal facial image captured by the end-user. No additional actions are required, and it determines the authenticity of whether the person themselves captured their face in real-time. Since no actions such as head movements by the end-user are required, it does not provide attackers with hints to decipher the judgment content, reducing user burden while strengthening fraud prevention.
*4 A method of determining whether an image sent by an end-user was captured at the time of identity verification, rather than being a pre-recorded photo, by requiring actions such as head movements or blinking from the end-user.
◾️Summary
・Liquid provides public personal authentication (JPKI) and facial capture + passive facial judgment options for "LIQUID eKYC" for WEB account opening at The Chiba Bank, Ltd.
・This complements the weakness of public personal authentication (JPKI), where "fraudulent applications are possible if both the card and PIN are available," with facial capture, achieving a more stringent and robust identity verification process.
・The adoption was decided based on measures against fraudulent use through a robust identity verification process, as well as the "IC Omakase Pack" (the fact that "LIQUID eKYC" supported App Clip).
◾️Background
With the amendment of the Ordinance for Enforcement of the Act on Prevention of Transfer of Criminal Proceeds (Act on Prevention of Transfer of Criminal Proceeds) scheduled for April 2027, non-face-to-face identity verification will primarily utilize IC chip-based methods.
Public personal authentication (JPKI) is an identity verification method that uses the IC chip of My Number Card and the PIN for the signature electronic certificate. While this method can cover a wide range of users and offers benefits such as reduced identity verification screening man-hours, it also has the weakness that "fraudulent applications are possible if both the card and PIN are available."
Liquid will provide public personal authentication (JPKI)*1 and facial capture for "LIQUID eKYC" for WEB account opening at The Chiba Bank, Ltd. This will complement the weakness of public personal authentication (JPKI), where "fraudulent applications are possible if both the card and PIN are available," with facial capture, achieving stringent identity verification. Furthermore, by performing facial capture with passive judgment, it prevents attackers from using retry methods to bypass active judgment, providing more robust security.
The decision to introduce this system was based on these stringent identity verification measures against fraudulent use.
About "IC Omakase Pack": https://liquidinc.asia/2024-08-27/
◾️About The Chiba Bank, Ltd.
The Chiba Bank, Ltd. was established in 1943 and operates as a regional bank rooted in Chiba Prefecture, providing financial services.
Based on its purpose, "To create a regional society where each individual's aspirations can be realized more fully," the bank actively engages in providing financial functions such as deposits and loans, as well as supporting regional DX/GX and solving various issues.
Location: 1-2 Chibaminato, Chuo-ku, Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture 260-8720
Representative: Tsutomu Yonemoto, President and Director
Established: March 1943
Business: Ordinary banking services
Website: https://www.chibabank.co.jp/
About The Chiba Bank, Ltd.: https://www.chibabank.co.jp/
◾️About "LIQUID eKYC," No. 1 in eKYC Market Share for 6 Consecutive Years *5
This service enables online identity verification required for online contracts, account registrations, and account openings. It offers methods such as capturing identity verification documents like driver's licenses or My Number Cards, or reading IC chips, and matching them with a selfie, as well as methods utilizing public personal authentication (JPKI / Smartphone JPKI). It also supports age verification for student discounts, etc. Through proprietary AI technology, biometric authentication technology, and OCR technology, it achieves a low dropout rate from the start to the completion of capture. The ELEMENTS Group has cumulatively processed approximately 150 million identity verifications and has approximately 600 contracts.
About LIQUID eKYC: https://liquidinc.asia/liquid-ekyc/
About Public Personal Authentication: https://liquidinc.asia/jpki/
*5 ITR "ITR Market View: Identity and Access Management / Personal Authentication Security Market 2025" eKYC Market: Vendor Revenue Share (FY2019-FY2024 Forecast)
◾️About Liquid Inc.
Liquid aims to realize a smooth society where all approximately 8 billion people worldwide can easily and safely use all services as they are, by utilizing biometric authentication to make authentication seamless. Furthermore, in line with the trend of online identity verification for financial transactions (Act on Prevention of Transfer of Criminal Proceeds), mobile phone contracts (Act on Prevention of Unauthorized Use of Mobile Phones), second-hand goods purchases (Secondhand Articles Dealer Act), real estate transactions, CtoC transactions, etc., we will provide a mechanism for cross-industry and cross-operator fraud detection, pursuing both convenience and security.
Location: Nihonbashi Life Science Building 3, 5F, 3-8-3 Nihonbashi Honcho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo
Representative: Takaki Hasegawa, Representative Director
Established: December 2018
Business: Image analysis and big data analysis specializing in biometric information and biometric behavior (LIQUID eKYC, LIQUID Auth, etc.)
Website: https://liquidinc.asia
Service Sites:
Identity Verification Service "LIQUID eKYC" https://liquidinc.asia/liquid-ekyc/
Personal Authentication Service "LIQUID Auth" https://liquidinc.asia/liquid-auth/
Digital ID Wallet "PASS" https://liquidinc.asia/smartcity/
Digital ID Wallet for Foreigners "GPASS" https://liquidinc.asia/gpass/
◾️About ELEMENTS Inc.
Location: Nihonbashi Life Science Building 3, 5F, 3-8-3 Nihonbashi Honcho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo
Representative: Takaki Hasegawa, President and Representative Director
Securities Code: Tokyo Stock Exchange Growth Market 5246
Established: December 2013
Business: Development and provision of personal authentication solutions utilizing biometric authentication, image analysis, and machine learning technologies; personal optimization solutions for clothing, food, and housing; and cloud services for managing personal information.
Website: https://elementsinc.jp/
※Company names and product/service names mentioned in this press release are registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective companies.
FAQ
What is "LIQUID eKYC" adopted by Chiba Bank?
It is an online identity verification service that combines public personal authentication (JPKI) with facial recognition technology to enable account opening while preventing fraudulent use.
Why did Chiba Bank adopt "LIQUID eKYC"?
To complement the weakness of public personal authentication (JPKI), where fraudulent applications are possible with just a card and PIN, by adding facial capture and passive judgment for more robust security.
What exactly is the passive judgment function?
It's a function that determines the authenticity of a real-time facial image captured by the end-user, requiring only a frontal image. It eliminates the need for actions like head movements, reducing user burden while strengthening fraud prevention.