REDWOOD CITY, Calif., November 12, 2024 – In today’s digital-first world, it is increasingly challenging to maintain trust and accountability. This is especially true for financial institutions, which have the critical job of providing secure transactions and interactions for their customers.

In response, the Identity & Access Forum’s  Banking & Financial Working Group has written an educational brief, “The Importance of Digital Identity Security in Financial ServicesIt explores the urgent concerns related to identity fraud affecting the banking and financial sectors and the value of implementing mobile driver’s licenses (mDLs) to address these issues.

The resource will showcase how stakeholders in the financial sector can leverage a sophisticated digital landscape that integrates elements of traditional banking alongside modern technology and customer interactions. It will provide background information on growing fraud vectors, including account takeovers, unauthorized loans and synthetic identities, accompanied by compelling data points highlighting billions of dollars in losses impacting financial institutions^[1].

A dedicated section explores how digital IDs, chiefly mDLs, are emerging as a key solution for mitigating these fraud risks. This digital version of a person’s physical driver’s license is cryptographically protected, carrying a digital signature of the issuer that cannot be tampered with and entities who accept mDLs, or Relying Parties (RPs), are able to verify the provenance, accuracy and integrity of the data exchanged.

Additional mDL benefits to the financial service industry highlighted in the education brief:

• Cost reduction
• Better customer experience
• Alignment with federal compliance requirements
• Security and risk considerations

“This brief is easy to understand and designed to bridge the gap between the identity, banking and financial industries to make mDL topics more accessible across sectors. As digital identity adoption grows nationwide, we hope it will start a dialogue for banking institutions that are interested in addressing their customer’s desire to use their mDL, where applicable,” said Sandy Mayfield, managing director of Identity & Access Forum.

Organizations, associations, government agencies and individuals interested in participating in the development of future Forum resources can visit the Secure Technology Alliance’s website to learn how to become a member. By joining the Secure Technology Alliance, members will have access to activities within the Identity and Access Forum and additional Alliance-affiliated organizations, including the development of industry-driven webinars, white papers, infographics and training programs.

About the Identity and Access Forum

The Identity and Access Forum is a cooperative, cross-industry body dedicated to advancing the adoption and development of secure identification including physical and logical access. Through the collaborative efforts of a diverse group of stakeholders and the publication of educational resources, the Forum advocates for market adoption of trusted, user-centric and interoperable digital identities to ensure safe and seamless access to services across all interactions. Areas of focus are identity credentials such as mobile drivers’ licenses and IDs for provisioning, IoT security and access control, among others. The organization operates within the Secure Technology Alliance, an association that encompasses all aspects of secure digital technologies.

About the Secure Technology Alliance

The Secure Technology Alliance is the digital security industry’s premier association. Through its U.S. Payments Forum, Identity and Access Forum and its collaborative working groups, the Alliance fosters open dialogue among industry stakeholders to explore and develop secure technology innovations in the payments, identity and access markets. By collaborating on education and guidance, the Alliance helps enable efficient, timely and effective implementation of large-scale, disruptive technologies.

Contact

Sherlyn Rijos-Altman
Montner Tech PR
203-226-9290
[email protected]

^[1] https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/CSN-Annual-Data-Book-2023.pdf (pg 10)