How Lumi Prevented $400K in Fraud and Unlocked $45K+ in Cost Savings by Modernising KYC, KYB and Fraud Prevention

FrankieOne
Lumi

When speed meets risk

Australian business lender Lumi is on a mission to fuel growth by making finance more accessible for SMEs. Since 2018, Lumi has delivered over $1.5 billion in funding to more than 15,000 Australian businesses, offering fast, flexible loans and lines of credit designed for the real-world pace of growth.

As Lumi scaled, so did the complexity of its KYC (Know Your Customer), KYB (Know Your Business), and fraud controls. Fragmented systems, manual processes, and rising operational costs were beginning to slow the business down.

Within the first 90 days of going live with FrankieOne, Lumi was able to identify and prevent approximately $400,000 in potential fraud losses, while also unlocking $45,000+ in annual operational cost savings.

Impact at a glance

  • $400,000 in potential fraud losses prevented within 90 days
  • $45,000+ in annual operational cost savings through reduced rework and manual intervention
  • First business lender in its category to introduce biometric verification
  • Shift from manual data entry to exception-based KYC/KYB reviews
  • Scalable onboarding without linear headcount growth

The challenge: Fragmented KYC and KYB at scale

Before working with FrankieOne, Lumi’s KYC and KYB processes were spread across multiple providers. While this approach technically worked, it created significant operational friction:

  • Customer and business data was fragmented across systems
  • Manual data entry increased errors and rework
  • Failed checks often stemmed from formatting issues rather than genuine risk
  • End-to-end visibility of customer risk was difficult

Manual reviews were the backbone of the process. Even incremental reductions in manual checking were considered a win.

At the same time, Lumi’s Chief Risk Officer had a clear strategic goal: introduce biometrics to strengthen fraud prevention. At the time, biometric verification was unheard of in the business lending space but Lumi knew it would be critical for long-term risk management and trust.

Why change: Fixing the root cause, not the symptoms

Over time, it became clear that Lumi’s existing approach wasn’t sustainable.

Each failed check triggered reattempts, additional costs, and more operational effort - without improving risk outcomes. Incremental fixes only treated symptoms, not the underlying issue: a fragmented onboarding architecture heavily reliant on manual work.

Lumi needed to redesign its KYC and KYB workflows from the ground up, with automation, resilience, and scale built in.


Why FrankieOne: A unified platform with built‑in resilience

FrankieOne stood out during Lumi’s evaluation for several reasons:

  • Multi‑vendor orchestration: If one verification provider failed, another could automatically step in - removing the need for manual fallback processes
  • Single API integration: All KYC, KYB, and biometric services could be managed through one unified platform
  • Operational resilience: Reduced dependency on any single provider improved uptime and risk continuity

Rather than solving a single use case, FrankieOne gave Lumi confidence that its onboarding and fraud controls could scale without breaking.

Implementation: Launching a completely new capability

Rolling out FrankieOne introduced brand‑new capabilities for Lumi, including biometric verification. Naturally, this came with unknowns.

From a product perspective, the implementation involved:

  • Close collaboration between Lumi and FrankieOne teams
  • Rapid issue resolution during technical challenges
  • A phased rollout to manage risk and adoption

Despite initial uncertainty especially around how brokers would respond to biometrics, the public launch exceeded expectations. Adoption was strong, and the rollout felt like a true partnership rather than a vendor handover.

Time to value: Seeing impact within months

Lumi took a deliberate, phased approach to rollout.

While early weeks involved iteration and learning, by month three, all deals were flowing through the new onboarding process, and internal teams were fully aligned.

That’s when the value became clear - operationally, commercially, and from a fraud prevention standpoint.

Measurable impact: Cost savings and fraud prevention

Since implementing FrankieOne, Lumi has seen tangible results:

Operational efficiency

  • AUD $45,000+ in annual operational savings
  • Fewer failed checks and reattempts
  • Significant reduction in manual intervention

Fraud prevention

  • AUD $400,000 in potential fraud losses identified and prevented within the first 90 days
  • Stronger controls validated early in production

These outcomes reinforced that the uplift wasn’t just theoretical, it delivered real financial impact.

Operational shift: From manual checks to exception management

One of the biggest internal changes was cultural.

Previously, operations teams spent their time manually validating every character of customer data. With FrankieOne:

  • Primary checks are automated
  • Teams focus on exceptions and high‑risk cases
  • Brokers and customers receive more support

Crucially, Lumi has decoupled growth from headcount, enabling higher volumes without linear increases in operational staff.

Customer and broker experience: Stronger controls without added friction

Introducing biometrics raised valid concerns, particularly from brokers unfamiliar with this level of verification in business lending.

To address this, Lumi focused heavily on:

  • Clear communication
  • Simple, intuitive onboarding flows
  • Actively gathering broker and customer feedback

That feedback led to iterative improvements, including expanding the range of acceptable documents - a change brokers particularly valued.

The result was a more streamlined onboarding experience, stronger fraud protection, and increased broker buy‑in.

Product agility: Faster iteration with configurable workflows

FrankieOne’s workflow‑based configuration gave Lumi’s product team new flexibility.

Instead of relying on manual workarounds, different onboarding flows can now be managed directly within the platform - allowing the team to:

  • Adjust rules and risk thresholds quickly
  • Experiment with onboarding flows by product
  • Respond faster to emerging fraud patterns

This has enabled the product team to move independently while keeping risk controls tightly aligned with growth.

The result: Leading the market in fraud prevention

By consolidating KYC and KYB, introducing biometrics, and automating risk workflows, Lumi has positioned itself as a leader in secure, scalable business lending.

As Lumi’s Senior Product Manager, Angel Chan, summarises:

“FrankieOne gave us a simple, flexible platform to orchestrate complex KYC and KYB checks at scale, allowing us to reduce operational friction and lead the market in fraud prevention.”


Want to see how unified KYC, KYB, and biometric fraud controls can support scale without friction?

Learn more about FrankieOne’s identity and fraud orchestration platform.