The City of London Corporation recently hosted the launch of the report Securing Growth: The Digital Verification Opportunity, bringing together industry leaders to discuss how digital identity verification can drive security, trust, and economic growth. The event, held on 25 March 2025, reinforced the urgency of accelerating digital verification adoption to tackle fraud and keep the UK competitive on the global stage.
OneID® CEO Paula Sussex, who was on the panel, shared her insights on the discussions and the collective vision for the UK’s digital future.
"This was an excellent gathering of the 'coalition of the convinced'—those who see digital verification as a critical component of the UK’s digital infrastructure. There was strong consensus that we need to urgently accelerate widespread digital verification, both to tackle the growing fraud epidemic and to remain competitive with other nations that are advancing their digital capabilities."
Urgent Action Needed
The panel highlighted that the UK is falling behind other developed economies in digital identity adoption. Fraud is only set to worsen as cybercriminals exploit gaps in the UK's digital defences, particularly the lack of strong identity verification. Maintaining the City of London’s status as a trusted global financial hub depends on addressing this challenge now—delays could weaken confidence in the UK’s financial services sector, driving business elsewhere.
Paula emphasised the need for government leadership:
"We need decisive action from the government—clarity on their role, collaboration with the private sector, and tangible steps to drive adoption. If we don’t move quickly, Big Tech could step in, diminishing the UK’s strategic control over our national identity data. This data is a critical national asset, safeguarding security and economic stability. It must remain under UK governance."
A Positive Outlook
Despite these challenges, the panel was optimistic about the UK’s ability to embrace digital identity verification. The upcoming Data Use and Access Bill is the final legislative piece needed to establish a fully functioning digital identity system. Once in place, HM Treasury (HMT) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) can reference the UK Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework (DIATF) in anti-money laundering (AML) rules, accelerating adoption and aligning the UK with global digital identity standards.
While the report recognises the need for a DIATF orchestrator, Paula pointed out that many benefits of digital identity can be realised immediately:
"OneID was the first ID orchestration provider certified under the UK’s ID framework (DIATF) nearly three years ago. Our solution, built on Open Banking, already enables 50 million UK citizens to verify their identity seamlessly through their banking apps. We don’t need to wait for new governance structures—trusted digital ID services are available today and ready for widespread adoption."
About OneID®
OneID® is the only document-free and truly digital identity service provider that creates absolute certainty between an organisation and an individual in real-time. By leveraging bank-verified data, OneID® brings speed, simplicity and compliance to the digital identification process.
Our digital ID services use the most advanced counter-fraud measures to help protect banks, businesses, government and individuals from online identity fraud. By streamlining existing ID processes, including payments, direct debits, onboarding and more, we help reduce operational costs and improve customer engagement.
As the UK’s only identity service with access to bank-verified information, around 50 million individuals in the UK can use OneID® to prove their credentials online – instantly, without any app download or account creation. OneID® is government-certified, regulated by the FCA and is a B Corp business.
Headquartered in the UK, we have brought together the best people in Digital Identity, Payments, Banking, Technology and Government to ensure we make the world a safer place.
