Last week I was in London for one of the world’s largest and most important identity events. At Identity Week 2022, we met with top experts in the identity space to explore the strides being made to protect consumer data and privacy, build trust and outsmart fraudsters.
Of course, we did plenty of talking about AU10TIX’s fully automated identity verification and fraud protection solutions.
But we’re most proud of the fact that our CEO, Carey O’Connor Kolaja, delivered a speech on the topic of digital identity in the financial services.
Titled “From Fintech to IdentityTech: How We Ensure Choice and Control When It Comes to Our Most Fundamental Assets,” the talk sprang in part from AU10TIX’s recent consumer study by Wakefield Research, held between March 15 and March 20, 2022.
That study underscores the importance of promoting trust among consumers, particularly with 86% of consumers already believing organizations ask for too much personal data. Further, it revealed that when it comes to personal data, security is now more important than convenience for most people.
As Carey discussed, consumer choice continues to drive the changing world in which we live and work.
“Each of us want control over our identity, what information we share, how we show up in the world,” she said. “Each of us want the ability to ensure seamless access to what we’re entitled to and protection from others who pretend to be us.”
Carey went on to challenge the status quo thinking that the financial services industry is leading innovations in identity verification technologies. She shared that, up until a couple of years ago, she believed the sector would lead the charge when it came to how tech-led identities and assets are enabled, protected and managed. But a lot has changed.
“Six years ago, financial service organizations were trusted more than any other entity to do what’s right for customers, managing the most critical data sets that decide their lives, access to money, their data,” said Carey. “Trust is imperative when handling the assets that allow people to live the lives they desire. However, in a mere half a decade, the opportunity that financial institutions could have placed in creating a global identity ecosystem has diminished.”
According to the 2022 Edelman Trust Barometer, the financial service sector is mistrusted in the majority of developed countries.
What caused the shift? Consumer empowerment.
“We moved from an opportunity for the financial services space to be the trusted entity to manage consumers’ and businesses’ identities to overnight it no longer being about financial services being in a position to control identity, but the individual in the position of strength to control their own identity.”
To that end, Carey went on to discuss the next evolution in consumer choice and control, and that’s decentralizing and democratizing the global system of identification.
“AU10TIX is well-positioned to lead this movement. We’ve modernized our flagship product while executing an aggressive roadmap around a modular service-based architecture for new ones. We’ve played an integral role in Microsoft’s roll out of verifiable credentials, and today we are soft launching our Contextual Credential Solution where we can not only verify the authenticity of an ID but can create a tokenized credential that sits within a digital wallet of choice. Our announcement is just one of many examples of our commitment to advancing self-sovereign identity infrastructure.“
Carey concluded with a call-to-action to fellow financial services experts and disruptors:
“As business leaders — ones closest to the movement of money that powers our capitalistic world — I believe we must contribute to the reinvention of identity, infusing the system with context, control and choice for individuals everywhere. The impact will be greater than preventing financial crimes; it will prevent humanitarian crimes too.“
We’re grateful to have met many wonderful people at Identity Week — those who hold the keys to building a more secure and inclusive world and who want to collaborate to do so.
To learn more about how AU10TIX can help you to verify better, convert more and worry less, read about AU10TIX technology and book a demo today.
