Fourthline and Veridas Join Forces to Fight Identity Fraud with a Global Identity Platform

Founded in Europe, now with global reach: backed by European investors and bringing bank-grade European compliance standards to markets worldwide Customer Value: A streamlined, end-to-end user experience that protects identity across the entire customer lifetime and helps customers grow revenue safely and compliantly. The Expected Result:Fourthline and Veridas are joining forces to create a global bank-grade identity platform: sovereign AI, modular compliance, and proprietary anti-fraud and biometric technology across Europe, Latin America, and the US. One trusted partner for end-to-end KYC, AML, and Identity compliance. Terms of Deal: Following completion of the merger, Veridas shareholders (including BBVA) will continue as shareholders in the combination, and the transaction will be partially funded by existing Fourthline investor Finch Capital and new investors including Rabo Investments, the captive investment arm of Rabobank. Expected close is in the second half of 2026, pending customary closing conditions including applicable regulatory approvals.

Fourthline, Europe's identity verification and compliance leader, has signed an agreement to merge with Veridas, a recognised international digital identity provider, to deliver the most complete and advanced trust platform across Europe and the Americas.

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Paul Stoddart, CEO of Fourthline

The combination unites Fourthline's institutional-grade KYC/AML compliance orchestration across Northern and Central Europe with Veridas's proprietary identity and anti-fraud stack and market position in Southern Europe, the US, and Latin America. Operating under a single, integrated AI architecture, the combined entity will secure the entire customer lifecycle for global Tier-1 banks, fintechs, telecommunications providers, and digital disruptors across both continents. Fourthline and Veridas come together from a position of strength, both profitable, EBITDA-positive, and at the strongest point in their respective histories. Together they are projected to complete 115 million verifications this year, active in 50+ countries worldwide.

Growth and Compliance Without Borders

By combining Fourthline's proven sovereign AI technology stack and modular compliance platform with Veridas's local market expertise, proprietary anti-fraud and biometric portfolio, and established relationships across Europe, Latin America, and the US’ financial ecosystem, the two companies will offer regulated institutions a single, trusted partner for end-to-end KYC, AML, and identity compliance and the infrastructure to grow with confidence.

Together, Fourthline and Veridas will provide financial institutions and regulated customers across Europe, the US, and Latin America with:

• Full-Spectrum Identity Compliance: A single, integrated platform covering Identity Verification (ID&V), AML Screening & Monitoring, Qualified Electronic Signature (QES), Bank Account Verification (BAV), and biometric authentication deployable independently or as a complete end-to-end solution via a modular, API-first architecture.
• Regional Depth, Global Standards: Veridas's deep local knowledge of identity documents, regulatory frameworks, and onboarding nuances, powered by Fourthline's bank-grade compliance infrastructure and sovereign AI decisioning engine.
• Scalable Infrastructure for High-Growth Markets: Fourthline's core infrastructure and Fourthline Hub self-service portal give partners direct access to insights, reporting, and configuration deployed across one of the world's fastest-growing digital banking landscapes, alongside Veridas’s proven capabilities to support large-scale production use cases with exceptional operational efficiency.
• Future-Proof Compliance: As global AML and KYC standards converge, the combined company will be positioned to deliver consistent, auditable, and regulator-ready compliance outcomes regardless of jurisdiction.
• Trusted Growth for Regulated Businesses: Tier-1 banks, neobanks, neobrokers, insurers, governments, telecommunications providers and global enterprises across both regions will benefit from a partner that takes care of the entire compliance picture, so they can focus entirely on growing their business.
• Strong Macro Tailwinds: Increased demand for identity solutions driven by growing deepfake and AI-enabled fraud, and increased regulations, such as AMLR, MiCA in Europe, and age verification for social media.

Paul Stoddart, CEO of Fourthline:"Fourthline was built to solve one of financial services' most persistent challenges — how to make identity verification and compliance fast, reliable, and scalable without compromise. We have done that for some of Europe's largest and most demanding regulated institutions. The opportunity to extend that mission within Europe and further into Latin America, one of the world's most dynamic and rapidly digitising financial markets, is one we've been building towards. Veridas has done something exceptional in building infrastructure that genuinely works for the complexity and richness of its customers. Together, we are raising the bar for what compliant, scalable identity verification looks like globally."

Eduardo Azanza, CEO and Co-founder of Veridas:"Veridas was born with the mission to provide the internet with the trust layer it was missing: a way for individuals and organisations to operate safely with real identities. In a world of AI-driven fraud, where distinguishing a real identity from a fake one is becoming increasingly difficult, and where regulatory complexity and market opportunity are both accelerating, our mission is more necessary than ever. By combining our decade of experience serving Tier-1 companies globally with proprietary identity and biometric technologies, advanced anti-fraud capabilities, and reusable identity solutions, together with Fourthline’s expansive compliance orchestration and proven experience with neobanks, fintechs and regulated financial institutions across Europe, we can now make this vision real."

The merger will accelerate a shared strategic roadmap to build next-generation identity and trust infrastructure for highly regulated industries. The combined company will focus on helping customers reduce financial crime, simplify compliance, improve conversion, authenticate users continuously, and prepare for the transition to reusable digital identity across all markets.

Following completion of the merger, Veridas shareholders (including BBVA) will continue to be shareholders in the combination, and the transaction will be partly funded by existing Fourthline investor Finch Capital and new investors including Rabo Investments, and is expected to close in the second half of 2026, pending customary closing conditions including applicable regulatory approvals.

The integration of Fourthline’s and Veridas’s technologies will be executed in a phased manner, with an unwavering commitment to service performance and quality with local customer support across all markets. Both companies will continue to serve existing clients with a stronger, more capable platform with full continuity of service.

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including applicable regulatory approvals, and is expected to be finalised in the second half of 2026.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are identified by words such as "will," "expected," "positioned," and similar expressions. By their nature, such statements involve risks and uncertainties, including the timing and outcome of regulatory approvals, integration progress, competitive dynamics, and other factors. Actual results may differ materially. Fourthline and Veridas do not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements except as required by applicable law.

About Fourthline:

Fourthline is Europe's leading identity verification provider powering compliance solutions through proprietary AI technology. Founded in Amsterdam in 2017, Fourthline’s strength is reflected in its client roster including Revolut, N26, Trade Republic, Qonto, Scalable Capital, Scalapay, Raisin, Rabobank and Bitpanda. Through a single API integration, Fourthline enables financial institutions to maintain consistent compliance standards while supporting ambitious global expansion. www.fourthline.com

About Veridas:

Veridas is a technology company founded in 2017 as a joint venture with BBVA. Since then, it has become a leading global player in the identity industry, serving over 350 clients across 25 countries in sectors including banking, insurance, telecommunications, and public administration across Europe, Latin America and the United States. Veridas’ mission is to provide Trusted Digital Identities to any business, through its proprietary, cutting-edge identity verification, biometric, and anti-fraud solutions.

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