Experts say open banking requires more collaboration, government guidance

How to establish trust in digital ID in the absence of industry standards or protocols was discussed by attendees of the recent Open Banking World Congress, some of whom are concerned that competition between tech companies could pose a barrier to adoption, Bobsguide reports.

“Getting [a network] in place so that our customers are confident that when they use that digital ID with us or someone else, they’re in a trusted, safe and secure network is one of the main components for us,” NetWest Personal Banking Strategy and Innovation Manager Charlotte Sadd said during a panel, according to the report.

Some participants expressed support for a single scheme for use across different applications in the UK.

AiiD Global Managing Director and Women in Identity Co-founder Emma Lindley said there may be five different digital identity schemes launched in the UK within the next few years. She says interoperability of payment schemes is important, and that “there needs to be a legal framework in identity.”

The private sector will want to determine how to financially benefit, which entails working out what the use cases for a digital ID system are, Lindley points out.

Yoti Financial Services Commercial Director Gareth Narinesingh suggested that full scale adoption of digital ID will take government guidance and a broad spectrum standard.

“Unfortunately if we are looking to the private sector to lead this – and there are dozens of players out there, digital identity is a very competitive space globally and each ID provider does things in a very different way – as a consequence of the private sector leading this we may end up with lots of different ways of doing things, which is a little counterintuitive to interoperability sadly,” he is quoted as saying by bobsguide.

Bobsguide cites research from Nomidio which one in seven UK adults has had to perform digital identity verification during lockdown conditions, and almost half of them have been asked to email sensitive personal information, such as passport images. Nomidio predicts this will feed identity related fraud.

Article Topics

AiiD  |  banking  |  biometrics  |  digital identity  |  Nomidio  |  open banking  |  standards  |  Women in Identity  |  Yoti