SWIFT proposes identity management system to banks

Original article and reporting at Computer Weekly by Karl Flinders

 

Banks could become the guardians of their customers' digital identity if a pilot being run by the SWIFT is accepted by its members.

A group within Swift has already agreed the basic architecture and business model for a service that banks could offer customers that will protect their digital identities against fraudulent activity.

The service would be like a digital vault which the bank would sell to customers. Swift would host the services and be the gatekeeper. The service would mean that when a customer pays for something online using their bank card, for example, they would not have to enter their card number. Rather the merchant would be redirected to the digital vault where, after approval, it would receive confirmation that the payment will be made. No details change hands.

"We are running an incubation project to see what is next in the concept of digital identity management," Kosta Peric, head of innovation at SWIFT,

If the concept becomes a service, it would make online activity easier and more secure for consumers. If a consumer has four bank accounts they will no longer have to adhere to four different security protocols. It will also ensure that personal information need not pass to companies that consumers buy from, but rather the bank will confirm the identity without passing on information. As well as security, the idea that consumers have control of who sees their details is a critical feature.

SWIFT will be at SIBOS and run Innotribe where I will be presenting on Digital Identity with some other very familiar names.