MiiCard Shares Fintech Digital Identity Predictions For 2012

Financial experts identify validating digital identity as top fintech trend for 2012

Edinburgh (I-Newswire) March 28, 2012 - Online identity verification service miiCard is today releasing a short video on the predicted impact of digital identity on financial services in 2012. While attending FinovateEurope in London last month, miiCard asked a range of experts in financial services about the role digital identity was going to play over the coming year.

The importance of a customer-centric view of data emerged as a strong trend, with those interviewed stressing the increasing significance of individuals being able to manage and control their identities online. Interviewees also predicted that the need to identify and authenticate users across a range of platforms would become a priority for financial institutions.

These predictions reflect growing awareness of the need to prove identity online. Deloitte’s January report on the Top Technology Trends for 2012 identified digital identity as a key issue, and initiatives geared to tackle these concerns have been launched by both the UK and US governments, with the UK Identity Assurance Programme and the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC) in the United States.

James Varga, miiCard CEO, comments: “The response from the leading fintech innovators has only reinforced, along with the increased activity we have already seen and Deloitte’s own predictions, that digital identity is going to be a core trend this year.”

miiCard was developed out of a need to prove online identity, to the same level of authority as a driving licence or passport would do offline, to make the buying and selling of financial products faster and easier.

The inability easily to authenticate a user’s identity online has long been a significant barrier to trade with between 70% and 90% of all online financial transactions terminated when the customer is required to provide physical proof of identity.

miiCard’s online identity verification allows a consumer to prove that “I am who I say I am” purely online and in real-time, to an Anti-Money Laundering standard, without the need for a physical ID check.

As a user-centric service miiCard gives the individual control over their identity and what information they share. Vendors accepting miiCard as proof of online identity stand to benefit from increased conversions, reduced cost of execution and additional fraud and identity theft protection equivalent to a class 2 verification.