Industry says UK digital identity rollout requires public-private collaboration

The rollout of a nationwide digital identity scheme in the UK requires collaboration between the public and private sectors, and should be commercially viable, according to speakers from NatWest, the Centre for Innovation, Finance and Technology (CFIT), the Norwegian Digitalisation Agency, and Jumio.

They were speaking on a panel, titled ‘Are digital identities the solution to stopping fraud?’, moderated by Daniel Saliba, ambassador at The Payments Association, at Pay360 on 26 March in London.

Lee McNabb, head of payments strategy & partnerships, NatWest Group

Lee McNabb, head of payments strategy and partnerships at NatWest Group, told delegates that “regulatory fragmentation” means there is “no real clarity on what digital ID means”, and called for more regulatory “ownership”.

He also discussed the “opportunity for UK PLC to drive this”, while emphasising the need for public-private collaboration.

Reinhard Hochrieser, vice president of product management at Jumio, said regulators and government should “align” on a common standard, with companies “building products on top”.

Panellist Ronny Khan, senior advisor at The Norwegian Digitalisation Agency, pointed to the Nordics’ “well-developed” digital ID system, and said this had been achieved through public-private cooperation.

In thinking about why take-up of a UK digital ID scheme has failed in the past, NatWest’s McNabb compared it to elements of Open Banking in the UK, which he said was implemented without commercial viability being considered.

“Any solution needs this commercial viability. Participants will struggle to support an ID scheme without it,” he told delegates.

Leon Ifayemi, director of coalitions and research at CFIT, said that banks won’t rely on ID if they “can’t verify the accuracy of the data” and asked, “who will take the blame if something goes wrong?”.

The panellists also discussed scepticism of digital ID among individuals and the importance of customer experience to drive adoption.

Ifayemi said that, in order to establish trust, “gradualism” is needed. He cited the GOV.UK Wallet and app as an example, which will launch this year with an early version of a digital driver’s licence, before “layering other data points on top”.

CFIT’s Ifayemi said that, by starting with a driver’s licence on the government wallet, it “becomes the norm” for 16 and 17-year-olds.

McNabb pointed to Australia, which has overcome “cultural resistance” to an ID scheme by making it about “enablement of a core outcome”, rather than labelling it as digital ID.

In March this year, CFIT published its blueprint for fighting economic crime through the widespread adoption of Digital Company ID, which recommends developing, launching and testing a prototype.

Digital Company ID will help mitigate against the annual £6.8 billion cost of fraud to the UK economy, according to CFIT.