Financial institutions and other global businesses face no shortage of advanced digital identity solutions on offer. Innovative technologies implemented across the digital economy are enabling customer identity to be verified accurately, seamlessly and in line with evolving regulation.
As approaches to digital identity have been so incredibly diverse, the importance of standardisation and interoperability is becoming increasingly clear. Innovation is key, but a robust trust framework will be critical to building an interconnected identity ecosystem. At FTT Identity 2021, a diverse panel of experts discussed how standards and open frameworks could shape success.
The concept of interoperability was established as crucial, both within the financial sector and beyond. As Brad Carr, Managing Director, Digital Finance at the Institute of International Finance noted, “You’re not going to get take up from users if you’re thinking of your industry in a vacuum. You need to be able to have an identity structure that’s accessible to them across the different walks of life where they might want to use it.”
The panel highlighted financial institutions as uniquely placed to manage user identification and data transfer, having already completed extensive KYC due diligence and having earned the trust of their customers. However, Manuela Sedvartaite, Innovation Manager at Santander, argued that broader collaboration is needed, “The key point is we need as much data as possible to make it a safe marketplace but we also need cross sector involvement, financial services cannot do this alone. Enabling digital identity and digital trust is a common effort.”
The need for effective standards and policies to foster trust was another key talking point throughout the session. Digital identity has to be underpinned by transparency and accountability, taking into account the risk to the individual at the centre of the ecosystem. Robert Baugh, Chief Executive Office at Keepabl, noted, “Regulators are very keen on seeing the private sector bring identity forward, but with data protection by design and by default, policies, procedures and data minimization.”
Watch the full session recording below. If you would like to experience more identity content, register for our Future Identity Festival in November now.
This session featured the following rockstar speakers:
- Brad Carr, Managing Director, Digital Finance, Institute of International Finance
- Viky Manaila, Digital Identity & PKI Expert, Cloud Signature Consortium
- Don Cardinal, Managing Director, Financial Data Exchange
- Manuela Sedvartaite, Innovation Manager, Banco Santander
- Robert Baugh, Chief Executive Officer, Keepabl
- Richard Maton, Advisor, International RegTech Association (moderator)