Comparison
Video KYC or qualified signature: remote client identification in Lithuania
Lithuanian anti-money-laundering law permits identifying a client who is not physically present in more than one way. The market knows one of them well: video verification, where the client photographs an identity document and their own face. There is another: the client signs with a qualified electronic signature.
These are not the same product at different prices. They are two different ways of answering the same question, and they leave very different traces – one creates a set of biometric data, the other does not.
Side by side
| Question | Video verification | Qualified signature (Tvarka) |
|---|---|---|
| What it relies on | A photograph of an identity document and of the person's face | A qualified certificate, issued only after the person's identity was established |
| Biometric data | Yes – a facial image is processed and stored | None. No video, no selfie |
| What the client has to do | Open or install a verification flow, photograph the document and themselves | Sign a prepared document with a means they already hold |
| What you receive as evidence | The vendor's report on the outcome of the check | An ASiC-E container with the signed document, the register responses and the attorney's attestation |
| Who can check that evidence | You have to trust the vendor's report | Any qualified-signature validation tool, years later |
| Does it establish the role in the company | Usually not – that is a separate KYB service | Yes – the personal code in the certificate is matched against the register record for the role |
| Commitment | Monthly minimums or contracts are the market norm | No minimum. You pay for a delivered package |
| A check that does not succeed | Vendor-dependent – some bill attempts | Free. An identity mismatch, an unfinished signing or a role nobody holds all cost nothing |
| Clients without a qualified signature | Works with documents from many countries | Works with EU qualified signatures; without one, another method is needed |
When to choose video verification
- You onboard clients from many countries, a large share of whom hold no qualified electronic signature.
- You verify at consumer volume and the price per check is what matters most.
- You need the identity document itself examined – whether it is genuine, whether it has expired – and not only who the person is.
- Your supervisor or your internal policy specifically requires video identification.
When to choose a qualified signature
- Your clients are Lithuanian companies and the people behind them, who already hold and use a qualified signature daily.
- You want evidence rather than a report – something a supervisor or a court can verify independently two years from now.
- You would rather not process facial images at all: not collect them, not store them, not have to explain where they live.
- You need identity together with authority: not only who the person is, but whether they really hold the role they are relying on.
- You onboard a modest number of clients and do not want a monthly minimum for a system that sits idle.
What the qualified-signature method does not cover
Worth saying plainly. Identification by qualified signature does not check sanctions or politically-exposed-person lists, does not assess risk, does not establish source of funds and does not replace ongoing monitoring of the business relationship. It also does not test whether an identity document is genuine, because no photograph of one is needed. It is one step of client due diligence, done properly – not the whole procedure.
How the Tvarka identification package works
You order it with a company code and a role. The registers say who holds that role. The person signs a prepared document with their own qualified electronic signature, and the personal code in their certificate is matched against the register record automatically. The responsible attorney-at-law attests that correspondence with a qualified signature of their own, and you receive one ASiC-E container. It is delivered through the Tvarka Due diligence API, so it can be wired into your own onboarding flow.