The City of London Corporation is calling on tech firms to build stronger digital verification services as fraud continues to wreak havoc on the financial sector.
The organisation has launched a digital verification initiative that through it has urged the tech industry to support the development of these services on behalf of the financial sector.
It has proposed a voluntary system that securely connects identity providers with other financial services businesses requiring identity checks.
Under this model, users would verify their identity once with an approved and trusted provider that can then be reused across various financial organisations via secure data transmission.
“Fraud is a plague on banks’ balance sheets, costing them over £1bn last year,” said Chris Hayward, policy chairman of the City of London Corporation.
“To help mitigate this – we need a digital-first economy that instils trust in the system and delivers clear benefits to consumers through faster, safer, and more seamless access to financial services.”
The City of London Corporation has claimed that if successfully implemented, this system could unlock £5bn in economic benefits over a five-year period.
“It’s this conviction that has motivated our work to champion the development and introduction of a digital verification service,” added Hayward.
“Innovation enables new dangers – but it also solves them too. We’re asking companies who can provide this infrastructure to step forward and lead the sector’s fightback against fraud.”
