{"id":212319,"date":"2019-05-01T22:43:30","date_gmt":"2019-05-02T02:43:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=212319"},"modified":"2019-05-01T23:11:14","modified_gmt":"2019-05-02T03:11:14","slug":"canadas-banks-officially-launch-securekeys-verified-me-digital-identity-network","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/05\/01\/canadas-banks-officially-launch-securekeys-verified-me-digital-identity-network\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada’s banks officially launch SecureKey’s Verified.Me digital identity network"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The banks see Verified.Me as the beginning of a more secure Canadian identity ecosystem for a world where technology is making it easier for criminals to steal personal data and use it to create false identities. (File Photo: Verified.Me\/Website<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TORONTO — Canada’s biggest banks marked the official launch of the Verified.Me digital identity network on Wednesday, following years of development and testing with their partner SecureKey Technologies Inc.<\/p>\n

The banks see Verified.Me as the beginning of a more secure Canadian identity ecosystem for a world where technology is making it easier for criminals to steal personal data and use it to create false identities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think solving this problem — about proving it’s me and making it harder for the bad guy to (pretend to) be me — is a problem of our age that we have to solve,\u201d SecureKey chief executive Greg Wolfond said in an interview.<\/p>\n

The Toronto-based company is building on the success of its SecureKey Concierge service, in use since 2012, that allows consumers to use their banking credentials to gain easier online access to Canada Revenue Agency services.<\/p>\n

Verified.Me goes a step further by making it easier for individuals to provide proof of their identity, using the information they’ve already provided to their financial institutions.<\/p>\n

In essence, the Verified.Me smartphone app connects with participating financial institutions and removes many of the steps that are currently required to establish a person’s identity.<\/p>\n

The platform also promises to give the users control over what information their banks will share with third parties that use Verified.Me to transact business with consumers.<\/p>\n

In the long run, that could include applying for a mortgage, renting an apartment or obtaining a driver’s licence.<\/p>\n

But currently only a limited number of financial products or services are available through Verified.Me.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe current capabilities … on Day 1 are registering their insurance with Sun Life, for example, and checking their credit score with Equifax,\u201d said Greg Elcich, CIBC vice-president for enterprise innovation.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut this is about building out an ecosystem around identity,\u201d he said. \u201cThis service will save Canadians time with everyday tasks that they do…That’s the real vision here.\u201d<\/p>\n

CIBC, Desjardins, RBC, Scotiabank and TD said they’d have Verified.Me running effective Wednesday while BMO Bank of Montreal and National Bank of Canada said they will join the network in the near future.<\/p>\n

Investors in the Verified.Me consortium include the banks and the Desjardins co-operative, the Telus and Rogers communications companies, the Visa, Mastercard and Discover credit card businesses, and Intel, the semiconductor giant.<\/p>\n

Rami Thabet, RBC’s vice-president for digital products, said the financial institutions want to build a Canadian digital identity ecosystem.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are quite a few nuances to how Canadians are accessing digital properties and accessing financial services digitally (that were) a key aspect of the design of the platform and to ensure that it met client needs in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said Canada’s financial institutions invest heavily in cybersecurity to protect consumer data and privacy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been a core underpinning of the (Verified.Me) platform, where it’s been designed with privacy and security in mind from the get-go,\u201d Thabet said.<\/p>\n

Andrew McFarlane, managing director of Accenture Financial Services, said the lack of a consumer-friendly identity authentication service has delayed European take-up of newer ways to make payments with electronic devices.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnless it’s easier and more convenient than using your card, people will continue to use the same payment methods that they have today,\u201d McFarlane said.<\/p>\n

But the challenge, he added, is to \u201cget the authentication requirements right while still keeping an eye on fraud and making sure you’re still safe and secure.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TORONTO — Canada’s biggest banks marked the official launch of the Verified.Me digital identity network on Wednesday, following years of …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":212342,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-212319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-news","category-technology","mauthors-david-paddon","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212319"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":212324,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212319\/revisions\/212324"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/212342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}