CFIT launches Digital Company ID working groups

The Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology (CFIT) has made another step towards the creation of a Digital Company ID in the UK.

On Thursday, the partly government-funded organization launched three industry-led working groups, focusing on building a viable prototype of the digital identity, identifying its use cases and defining trust and governance requirements.

“These three working groups reflect the collaborative effort required to build a Digital Company ID, and the collective determination to thwart fraudsters entering the financial system,” says CFIT’s Director of Coalitions and Research Leon Ifayemi.

CFIT has been developing a prototype of the Digital Company ID with the help of 70 organizations, including financial services providers, public sector organizations and regulators, and biometric technology providers such as Daon, Yoti and OneID.

The digital identity is meant to not only combat economic crime but also streamline processes for businesses. CFIT believes that the widespread adoption of the identification tool could save UK businesses billions in efficiency, lost revenue and fraud per year.

The working groups will gather legal and financial industry experts, the organization announced in a release. This includes Select ID, law firms Skadden and A&O Shearman, as well as financial service associations UK Finance and the Financial Data and Technology Association (FDATA).

Key partners in the project include Barclays, the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF), LexisNexis Risk Solutions, Mastercard, digital bank Monzo, Moody’s and Transunion.

“The market opportunity for Digital Company ID is vast,” says UK Finance’s Aysha Fernandes who is co-chairing the Market Opportunity Working Group. “It will offer businesses and SMEs a more effective way to combat fraud as well as making some of the day-to-day realities of doing business quicker and easier.”

The working groups will rely on recommendations of CFIT’s blueprint report, published in March. Aside from prototype development, the paper suggests setting up interoperability standards and identifying high-value use cases for Company Digital ID in financial services.

The report also asks the UK government to mandate data sharing on economic crime through Digital Company ID, appoint a body responsible for its implementation and governance and review the regulatory framework behind it. Government departments should lead by example by adopting Digital Company ID for procurement, tax filings and confirmation statement submissions, says the analysis.

The government, on its part, has been working towards similar goals: Starting in Autumn 2025, company directors and persons with significant control (PSCs) will be required to verify their identity to prevent fraud and streamline processes.

In March, UK Minister of AI and Digital Government Feryal Clark said that exploring a digital company ID could strengthen the country’s financial sector.

Article Topics

Centre for Finance Innovation and Technology (CFIT)  |  digital company ID  |  digital ID  |  GLEIF  |  identity verification  |  KYB  |  LexisNexis  |  Mastercard  |  TransUnion