UK Finance is supporting Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide Building Society, NatWest Group and Santander to develop a financial services-led digital verification service. Many online processes still require customers to repeatedly verify who they are, often through sharing multiple physical documents or information to confirm a single detail such
Kirstie Pickering
UK Finance is supporting Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide Building Society, NatWest Group and Santander to develop a financial services-led digital verification service.
Many online processes still require customers to repeatedly verify who they are, often through sharing multiple physical documents or information to confirm a single detail such as their age or address.
A new digital service would aim to provide a simple and secure way for customers to verify personal details digitally through their banking app.
Based on the trusted relationships banks and building societies have with their customers, the relevant verified information – such as name, age or address – would be shared securely with a third party to enable someone to complete a transaction or access a service.
Any future service would be voluntary and based on explicit customer consent, with customers remaining in control of what data is shared and when.
UK Finance says the goals of the digital verification service are to provide trust, control and privacy, fraud reduction, convenience and efficiency for businesses.
To date, the project has completed proof-of-concept work, which made use of synthetic data to explore the technical, legal and operational requirements of a digital verification service.
The next stage will involve a live pilot in a controlled real-world environment to further test the service and this is scheduled to take place in the coming months. UK Finance and the firms involved are working with Select ID, who are leading the technical design and delivery work.
“The financial services sector is ideally placed to deliver a secure and trusted digital verification service,” says Jana Mackintosh, managing director, payments and innovation at UK Finance.
“Using already verified information, shared only with the customer’s explicit consent, could help make digital transactions safer, quicker and more convenient as well as ensuring customers have full control over how their data is used.”
