𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐋𝐀, 𝐏𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬 — Philippine technology company Bastion, Inc. has entered into an exclusive partnership with Singapore-based biometrics and artificial intelligence company Finlaris to bring an advanced AI-powered identity verification and fraud prevention technology to the Philippine market, as organizations face increasingly sophisticated threats from deepfakes and other forms of digital identity fraud.

Under the partnership, Bastion will serve as Finlaris' exclusive operator, distributor and partner in the Philippines and introduce 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡, its AI-powered electronic Know Your Customer (eKYC) and identity verification platform, to provide banks, financial institutions and other organizations requiring secure remote identity verification with advanced facial biometrics technologies.

The event was attended by no less than the CEO and President of Finlaris, 𝐌𝐫. 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐙𝐡𝐚𝐨, alongside 𝐌𝐫. 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐓𝐚𝐧, CEO / President for Bastion Inc. Witnessing the signing for Bastion were Vice-Chairman 𝐒𝐢𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐧 𝐔𝐧𝐠 and Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer 𝐀𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐋𝐢𝐳𝐚 𝐄. 𝐀𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞 and 𝐉𝐮𝐝𝐝 𝐀. 𝐄𝐮𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐨, Vice President for Enterprise Transformation and Sales & Marketing. Finlaris was represented by Senior Solution Architect 𝐄𝐫𝐢𝐜 𝐖𝐚𝐧𝐠 and Director of Global Business 𝐈𝐚𝐧 𝐙𝐡𝐮.

𝐀𝐝𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐮𝐝
The partnership comes as the rapid shift toward digital banking and online services creates new challenges for organizations seeking to establish whether customers interacting remotely are both real and who they claim to be.

Advances in artificial intelligence have added another layer to the problem. Deepfakes, AI-generated faces and videos, screen replays, virtual environments and injection attacks are creating increasingly sophisticated ways of attempting to circumvent conventional identity verification systems.

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐑𝐢𝐬𝐤 𝐌𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
The Philippine financial sector faces an intricate web of regulatory, operational, and cyber risks as it rapidly digitizes while strengthening its legal frameworks. Rapid adoption of digital channels has triggered a severe rise in cybercrime and fraud; the Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP) estimated pandemic-era bank fraud losses—including unauthorized withdrawals and unlawful transfers—reached ₱1 billion, making cyber and technology risk the single leading hazard identified across local institutions. Compounding these operational vulnerabilities is an evolving regulatory baseline set by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). Following the country's exit from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) "grey list" in early 2025, financial institutions face heightened scrutiny regarding Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) enforcement, particularly as the sector prepares for its FATF Mutual Evaluation. Consequently, compliance and IT risk management expenses continue to squeeze profit margins, forcing institutions—especially smaller rural and thrift banks—to absorb high fixed RegTech and cybersecurity costs across a sector with total assets exceeding ₱27 trillion.

“We are excited to introduce Finlaris to the Philippine market, as we are bringing to the industry a mature, innovative global company that is a proven specialist in the biometrics and identity market,” Tan said “with Finlaris technology and mature platform processing millions of API calls daily, we are confident in their ability to cater to the demanding, evolving and sophisticated Philippine market. Moreover, the SaaS delivery model allows our potential customers to enjoy rapid deployment through a variety of delivery modalities, choose and pay for this service as-they-go, ensuring a right-sized cost structure that would fit highly constrained budgets.”

FinAuth uses a multi-layered facial identity verification approach that combines ID document recognition and verification, liveness detection, facial matching, fraud detection and risk analysis. Rather than relying solely on facial recognition, the platform can analyze device, behavioral, image and video risk signals to identify potential threats such as AI-generated videos, screen replays, injection attacks, rooted devices, API hooking and virtual environments.

FinAuth also offers different liveness detection methods, including Active, Flash, Active plus Flash and 3D liveness, allowing organizations to apply verification approaches appropriate to different use cases and risk profiles.

“Identity fraud is evolving rapidly alongside artificial intelligence, and organizations need to look beyond traditional approaches to remote verification,” Zhao said. “Through our partnership with Bastion, we look forward to making FinAuth's identity verification and fraud prevention capabilities available to more organizations in the Philippines and supporting their efforts to build safer digital services.”

𝐒𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠
For banks and other financial institutions, FinAuth can be integrated at different points of the customer journey, including digital onboarding and KYC, account access and verification of higher-risk activities.
The technology can also complement existing KYC, anti-money laundering, cybersecurity and fraud management controls as Philippine financial institutions strengthen their defenses against financial scams and account misuse, including broader efforts associated with the 𝐀𝐧𝐭𝐢-𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐒𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐜𝐭 (𝐀𝐅𝐀𝐒𝐀).

Beyond banking and financial services, FinAuth can support identity verification applications in fintech, lending, e-wallets, e-commerce, transportation and mobility, delivery services, telecommunications and other digital platforms where remotely establishing a user's identity is critical to security and trust.

The platform supports identity documents across more than 𝟐𝟎𝟎 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, allowing organizations to accommodate customers from different markets and nationalities.

Finlaris also holds certifications including 𝐈𝐒𝐎 𝟐𝟕𝟎𝟎, 𝐈𝐒𝐎 𝟐𝟕𝟕𝟎𝟏, 𝐈𝐒𝐎 𝟗𝟎𝟎𝟏, 𝐈𝐒𝐎 𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟎𝟎 and 𝐈𝐒𝐎 𝟑𝟎𝟏𝟎𝟕, reflecting its work across information security, privacy, quality, IT service management and biometric presentation attack detection.
The partnership expands Bastion's portfolio of technologies supporting the digitalization, cybersecurity, compliance and operational requirements of Philippine-based financial and banking organizations.

𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐁𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐈𝐧𝐜.
Established in 2004, Bastion, Inc. is a Philippine technology company providing solutions across payment technologies, cybersecurity, compliance and future technologies. Through partnerships with global technology providers, Bastion introduces solutions designed to address the evolving digital, security, compliance and operational requirements of organizations in the Philippines.

𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐬
Finlaris is a facial biometric, artificial intelligence enterprise focused on technologies for identity verification, fraud prevention, and intelligent document processing and visual intelligence. Its FinAuth platform provides capabilities including ID document recognition, liveness detection, facial verification, face search, fraud detection and risk analysis for organizations requiring secure remote identity verification.