CFIT Leads the Charge Against Economic Crime with Digital ID Innovation

The Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology (CFIT) today reveals details of progress by its industry-wide coalition towards creating a digital company ID that will counter economic crime and, according to the Government, contribute to the £600M annual addition to the UK economy, from the widespread use of secure digital identities.[1] The coalition of leading financial institutions and technology companies, led by CFIT, has worked to design a digital company ID to make securing finance and conducting day-to-day business quicker and less vulnerable to fraud. The coalition’s proposed model would empower the finance sector and CFIT to create a working prototype, in the form of a virtual passport, for UK businesses. Research undertaken by the coalition since its launch has proven that widespread adoption of a digital company ID would help prevent fraud, boost efficiencies for banks and other financial institutions by saving them time, reduce financial services compliance costs and enable the creation of a secure smart-data economy. This work is supported by The Chancellor who, in her new National Payments Vision, the ambitious blueprint for the future of the sector, that was published in November, welcomed the work of CFIT and its coalition partners to “explore the potential of digital verification solutions to combat economic crime” and pledged to “consider any findings that emerge from CFIT’s work in due course.” Over seventy organisations are participating in the coalition including proof of concept partners Lloyds Bank, NatWest Group and Monzo, alongside the likes of Mastercard, Companies House, Barclays, Santander, HSBC, Virgin Money, Moody’s, A&O Shearman, Dun & Bradstreet, CRIF, Ernst & Young, Experian, GLEIF, LexisNexis Risk Solutions, OneID®, Revolut, Visa and Yoti; as well as regulators such as the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Payment Systems Regulator (PSR). CFIT will announce the outputs, recommendations and next steps from the coalition’s work programme in March 2025. CFIT Chair, Charlotte Crosswell OBE, said: “Economic crime remains a major threat to the UK’s economic security, and has a profoundly distressing impact on consumers and businesses. At CFIT, we are committed to addressing this and making the financial services industry more robust against fraud. The dynamic elements of Smart Data and Digital ID, along with cross sector interoperability, have been key to the success of the coalition to date and demonstrate a further milestone in CFIT’s mission to boost economic growth through financial innovation.” Lloyds Bank CEO, Business & Commercial Banking, Elyn Corfield, said: “Digitising how banks undertake know your customer obligations will help make compliance checks more user friendly for Britain’s small businesses and support the UK’s fight against financial crime. Providing easier and quicker access to bank accounts and finance will enable businesses to secure greater investment for growth and deliver more jobs for people across the UK.” NatWest Group, Head of Financial Crime Risk Management and Deputy Group MLRO, Phalé McMillan, said: “Financial crime continues to be one of the most prevalent crimes in the UK, which is why cross industry collaboration is vital to protect consumers, businesses and the overall economy. The proposed digital verification framework demonstrates the power of technology in protecting the financial system and customers, whilst supporting UK economic growth.” Monzo Business, General Manager, Jordan Shwide said: “Driving innovation and supporting initiatives that make life easier for SMEs is in our DNA – so we’re incredibly excited to be part of this coalition exploring the potential positive benefits of digital verification. This not only enables quicker access to financial services for legitimate businesses, but it also means lots of business information lives in one place. This should make it harder for scammers to set up fake companies and ultimately help prevent people falling victim to fraud.”