A generic KYC process configured for exact name matching can reject thousands of legitimate users every month in medium sized operations in Brazil.

The reason? Users who enter “Mariana Souza” when the document says “Mariana de Souza”.

The structural problem of a KYC that rejects without reason

Name variations are a structural feature of identification data in Brazil. The omission of prepositions or middle names is culturally ingrained.

Why does this happen?

1. 73% of Brazilians have prepositions in their names (da, de, dos, das).
2. It is culturally common to use only first name + last name.
3. Many Brazilians are not fully aware of their complete registered names.

From a legal standpoint: the CPF is the primary identifier in Brazil. Case law makes it clear there is no impediment to establishing a contractual relationship when the CPF and essential data match, regardless of the omission of prepositions.

The cost of a solution that doesn’t understand the Brazilian market

Applying exact name matching rules in onboarding creates a conversion bottleneck with significant revenue losses.

A conservative simulation shows the cost:

Beyond the direct loss of revenue, secondary costs include an increased Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) due to the need to reinvest to capture new users, and brand damage caused by a negative experience:

• Current CAC: US$27 per acquired customer
• Customers lost per month: 1,500 to 3,500
• Marketing wasted: US$ 40K to US$ 94K / month
• To refill the funnel: +50% investment in acquisition = US$ 60K to US$ 141K / month
• Total replenishment cost: US$ 100K to US$ 235K / month

Monthly losses (even on modest numbers):

• Uncaptured revenue: US$ 214K to US$ 500K
• Funnel replenishment cost: US$ 100K to US$ 235K
• Total impact: US$ 314K to US$ 732K per month

Intelligent compliance for the Brazilian market

Legitimuz was built for Brazil’s regulatory ecosystem. Instead of binary validation, our decision engine uses a scoring system that cross-checks multiple data points to confirm identity with precision, in full compliance with Law No. 14,790/2023 and SPA/MF ordinances.

How the decision architecture works

• CPF validation (Brazilian Federal Revenue Service): Anchor using the full name + date of birth + parents’ names from the official database.
• OCR + Document Analysis: Data extraction + verification of security elements (RG/CNH).
• Facial Biometrics (mandatory – Law No. 14,790/2023): Face Match + Liveness Detection.
• Multi-layer Cross-Check: Comparison against public/private databases + AML/CFT + restrictive/sanctions lists.

Result: 98% + approval on the first attempt. We approve legitimate users even with name variations because we validate identity via essential data (CPF, biometrics, parents’ names), not literal string matches.

Lower friction → higher approval

• Expired driving licence (CNH): expiry invalidates it for driving, but not as a civil identity document (STJ – REsp 1,805,381). Our platform accepts it for KYC purposes, preventing unnecessary rejections.
• Date-of-birth discrepancies: small differences between the document and the Federal Revenue database (e.g., 18/06 vs 17/06), often due to clerical errors, are handled through contextual risk analysis rather than immediate rejection.

In addition, we support digital documents issued directly by government authorities:

• Digital CNH: PDF exported from the Carteira Digital de Trânsito (CDT) app with ICP-Brasil digital signature (.P7S), valid since May 2017.
• Digital CIN (new RG): PDF exported from the gov.br app with QR Code and digital signature, available in 24 states + Federal District.

Easier process → lower abandonment

• The user issues and sends the official PDF directly, with no need to photograph a physical document.
• ~3× faster process (from ~5 minutes to <30 seconds).
• 40% reduction in rejections due to image quality (blur, glare, cropped document).
• Already-structured data in the PDF improves OCR and reduces extraction errors.

Smart re-use

When there is a discrepancy or submission error, the user does not lose progress:

• Specific notification: the system tells them exactly what needs fixing (e.g., “ID photo is cropped”).
• Direct resubmission: the user resubmits only the problematic document while all other validated data is retained.
• No restart: the process continues from where it left off, with no need to redo the entire registration.

End-to-end compliance solution

Beyond solving the approval bottleneck at onboarding, our platform provides end-to-end compliance: continuous AML/CFT monitoring, territorial compliance (geolocation), and full alert management, all aligned with SPA/MF ordinances. We can cover the details in the demo.

Great in theory. What about in practice?

All scepticism is understandable, after all, validating thousands of users in Brazil without rejecting legitimate customers is not trivial.

That’s why we can demonstrate, in practice, how Legitimuz achieves this securely and efficiently:

• Identity validation even with name variations or expired documents, using essential data such as CPF, parents’ names and biometrics;
• Full integration with Digital CNH, Digital CIN and official databases, speeding up onboarding without compromising security;
• Real metrics on approvals, fewer rejections and direct conversion impact, tailored to your volume and risk profile;
• A full end-to-end compliance flow: AML/CFT monitoring, MLRO alerts, COAF reports and advanced fraud detection.

A high-potential operation may be losing up to R$ 4.1M monthly from unnecessary rejections.

Request a custom demo and discover how to boost your approval rate to 98%+ without sacrificing security.