REGTECH: GUARDIANS OF TRUST Much to GAIN: The proposed new standard could restore banks’ status
Rod Boothby, Global Head of Identity at Santander and Co-chair of the Open Digital Trust Initiative, believes banks hold the key to restoring broken confidence in an online world. Now, he’s asking them to mobilise to fix it Who do you trust to vouch for you? Your government, your doctor, a solicitor? How about your bank? By the end of next year, millions of us could be looking to the organisations we deposit our money with to be the custodians of what is, arguably, a much more valuable asset – our digital selves. The Open Digital Trust Initiative is being steered by the Institute of International Finance and the OpenID Foundation, which have built a coalition of organisations across the identity community, to create a global digital trust infrastructure that hopes to assign a new role to regulated entities – financial
12
TheFintechMagazine | Issue 22
institutions principal among them. It’s called the Global Assured Identity Network (GAIN) and it maps out a way for banks and others to offer digital trust services via APIs. To be clear, that’s not just for banks to act as gatekeepers for our identity in relation to financial services, but also delegated responsibility to confirm we can travel across borders, access health services and much more. Why should banks take on the mantel? According to Rod Boothby, global head of identity at Santander and co-chair of the Open Digital Trust Initiative, because they already have what it takes to execute on
possibly the most important mission of all – ‘to deliver truth and trust while allowing people to protect their privacy’. And they can do it by leveraging their existing electronic know your customer (eKYC) and strong customer identification capabilities, as well as the confidence invested in them by public and business. “Banks treat your identity as an asset and they can provide a custodial service to protect it, just as they provide custodial services to protect your cash or your stocks, because it’s your property,” says Boothby. “By delivering this [identity-as-a] service, we hope to reduce the challenges www.fintechf.com
