Stay compliant and onboard customers faster in Ethiopia

With Smile ID, you can quickly verify identities and stay compliant with digital KYC and data regulations in Ethiopia.

Country Overview

Ethiopia is a member of both the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) AND East and Southern African Anti-Money Laundering Group (ESAAMLG) and has made strides towards bringing its KYC/AML regulations to a global standard.Companies looking to digitally onboard customers and verify identities in Benin are expected to adhere to local and international KYC regulations.

Regulatory Overview

KYC/AML regulations

AML/KYC regulations in Ethiopia are enforced by a number of regulators including the

National Bank of Ethiopia
Financial Intelligence Center

The primary KYC/AML regulation in Ethiopia is the Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Proclamation No. 1176/2020.

Data protection regulations

The Ethiopian Information Network Security Agency (INSA) enforces Ethiopia’s data protection laws via the Ethiopian Data Protection Directive (DPD).

Data processors are required to obtain their customer’s consent before processing and transferring personal data.

Accurately verify users in Ethiopia

Stay compliant, prevent fraud and streamline your user verification process for customers across Africa with Smile ID. Verify users with confidence with:

The most extensive ID coverage on the continent

99.8% recognition accuracy for faces of all skin tones

A solution that is compatible with any device

Documents we verify in Ethiopia

Give users the flexibility to verify their identity using any of the following ID documents. All we need is a document photo and a selfie.

Ethiopian National ID

Introduced in 2019, the Ethiopian National ID still has a limited spread across the population. However, it is on course to become the most popular ID type for KYC in coming years as the government rolls it out nationwide.

Ethiopian Passport

The Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is typically responsible for issuing passports to citizens.

Ethiopian Driver’s License

Driver’s Licenses issued by the Algerian MInstry of Public Works and Transport can also be used to verify identities in the country.

Ethiopian Resident Card

Resident cards issued by the Main Department for Immigration and Nationality Affairs can be used to verify the identities of foreigners resident in Ethiopia.

Verify Ethiopians using ID documents

Verifying users with ID documents and biometric face matching is one of the most reliable ways to determine a user's true identity. Our ID document verification solution checks that an ID document is authentic, accurately transcribes the text on the document and compares a user-submitted selfie to the document image.

Transcribes document text with 96% accuracy

Checks for accurate format

Identifies tampered and forged documents

Verifies security features

Scan your document

Our image capture tool guides users to take clear photos even with older devices.

Smile for a selfie

We ensure a real user is behind the camera by asking them to smile to test for liveness.

Get real-time results

In a few seconds, we will confirm the document is authentic and belongs to the user.