The UK’s Digital ID Power Play: Big Finance and Government Push Corporate IDs

A major initiative is underway in the UK to develop a Digital Company ID prototype, with major financial and tech companies, government agencies and regulators, and the likes of the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, among the prominent forces behind the push.

The prototype, that would be “fully functional” is defined as, “a unique digital representation of a business entity for the purpose of digital verification” – and the launch of personal digital IDs is viewed as a key part of the Digital Company ID.

This definition is contained in a document published by the Center for Finance Innovation and Technology (CFIT) – launched as the result of a report commissioned in 2020 by the then chancellor of the exchequer and submitted by Ron Kalifa as an independent review identifying UK fintech sector’s priority areas. It received £5 million from Treasury and half a million from the City of London.

These days, CFIT coalition members include Barclays, HSBC UK, Lloyds Bank, Natwest, Matercard, Visa, Santander, as well as Google, Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF), Yoti, Bank of England, City of London, the Treasury, and companies that are in effect data brokers, such as Equifax, Experian, and Lexis Nexis Risk Solutions.

Collectively, they back the UK Data (Use and Access) Bill, which has been criticized as weakening data processing protections by means of introducing more automated decision-making affecting the public, and ushering in a digital ID framework – but without proper safeguards against sharing of people’s digital ID data beyond a limited scope defined in the original purpose.

All of this, as is these days often the case, is shrouded by the report’s very name – “Fighting Economic Crime Through Digital Verification.”

What the report – and its “70-strong unique group” – hope to accomplish is getting the government, regulators and the financial industry to work together and “put in place the necessary regulatory frameworks and initiatives.”

This would include the UK government adopting Digital Company ID for tax filings, as well as annual statements required of UK-registered companies to prove accuracy of data held by Companies House.

The CFIT report also back the Economic Crime & Corporate Transparency Act (ECCTA), requiring all individuals registering or managing companies to verify their identities via GOV.UK One Login or an Authorized Corporate Service Provider (ACSP).

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