Work to translate the Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology’s (CFIT’s) Digital Company ID blueprint into practical, real-world deployments of reusable digital identities for UK businesses is bearing fruit as the project reaches its latest milestone.
The CFIT this week unveiled the outcomes of its Digital Company ID Coalition at a showcase event at which three industry-led working groups, led by UK Finance, Smart Data and Technology Alliance, Select ID, A&O Shearman and Skadden – were supported by market participants including Barclays, LexisNexis Risk Solutions, Mastercard, Monzo and TransUnion, shared their work so far.
Almost 18 months on from the project’s inception, the groups have now collectively delivered a series of priority use cases – focusing on financial services onboarding, supplier verification, marketplace identity and government identity; built a trust and governance framework allowing scalable adoption across sectors; conducted extensive analysis of the commercial models and market opportunity needed to support long-term implementation; and finally, developed a live, interoperable prototype demonstrating that Digital Company ID is indeed a feasible concept.
“Digital Company ID is a systemic challenge that no single organisation can solve alone. Through this coalition, CFIT has brought together deep technical expertise from across industry, government and technology to move from concept to practical delivery,” said CFIT CEO Anna Wallace.
“The foundations are now in place, and the focus rightly shifts to implementation – turning this collaborative work into real-world infrastructure that strengthens trust and reduces friction for businesses across the UK economy. I’m deeply proud of the progress we have made alongside our partners to make this happen,” she said.
CFIT said its coalition had proven that Digital Company ID has the potential to remake how UK organisations prove their identities online, reducing fraud, simplifying onboarding and enabling faster, more secure digital transactions.
Currently, businesses face “persistent inefficiencies” when it comes to proving their identity to access financial and other professional services, said CFIT. One of the biggest challenges they face is the requirement to repeatedly provide the same verification information to different institutions, which creates burdensome and unnecessary administrative work, slows access to services, and increases the cost of compliance. A unified digital ID standard may help alleviate this.
Industry and policymakers are already strongly aligned on the need for a trusted digital identity infrastructure for British businesses, the organisation added.
CFIT’s own data says that over 80% of SMEs in the country would actually be willing to pay for a Digital Company ID to support a wide range of applications, which includes fraud prevention, financial services onboarding, marketplace verification, and government reporting.
Next steps
In the coming weeks, the project will move to the next phase in its development, with the City of London Corporation taking responsibility for coordinating implementation that is expected to eventually lead to a market-led orchestration model – CFIT will maintain strategic oversight and offer advisory support in this process.
City of London Corporation policy chairman Chris Hayward said: “Fraud is a global challenge and remains a principal threat to the integrity of financial markets. As a founder of CFIT, and through participation in these working groups, City of London Corporation supports CFIT’s conclusion that verified, reusable company identity confronts this challenge directly.
“It improves security, while removing friction for legitimate businesses that create jobs and generate growth. City of London is committed to ensuring our financial centre remains the safest, most transparent, and most competitive in the world,” he said.