UK Finance Drives Digital ID Pilot with Major Banks

UK Finance is spearheading a push to reshape digital identity verification.

By bringing together Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide Building Society, NatWest Group and Santander, trade association UK Finance is working to streamline how consumers prove who they are online.

The initiative centres on a voluntary, bank-led digital verification service that would allow customers to securely share verified personal data directly from their banking apps. 

It is designed with consent and control at its core and is in light of a growing industry focus on reducing friction in digital journeys while strengthening trust and security.

Jana Mackintosh, Managing Director of Payments and Innovation at UK Finance, says: “The financial services sector is ideally placed to deliver a secure and trusted digital verification service. 

“Using already verified information, shared only with the customer’s explicit consent, could help make digital transactions safer, quicker and more convenient as well as ensuring customers have full control over how their data is used.”

Reducing friction in digital journeys

Despite advances in digital onboarding, many customer journeys still rely on repeated identity checks – processes that often require physical documents or manual verification steps. 

This creates friction for both consumers and businesses, particularly across e-commerce, financial services and property transactions.

UK Finance’s proposed service aims to eliminate these redundancies by allowing users to verify attributes such as name, age or address once and then reuse those credentials securely across multiple platforms. 

This means that instead of uploading passports or utility bills, customers would approve data-sharing requests directly within their banking app for a wide range of scenarios, including online purchases, age verification, account opening and property transactions.

Privacy, control and fraud mitigation

A defining feature of the initiative is its emphasis on user consent and data minimisation. 

Customers retain full control over what information is shared, with whom and when, with explicit approval required for each transaction.

This approach aligns with broader regulatory and consumer expectations around data privacy, while also addressing rising concerns around fraud and synthetic identity threats. 

By utilising bank-verified data, the service could significantly enhance the reliability of digital identity checks.

The initiative has already progressed beyond early-stage exploration. 

A proof of concept using synthetic data has been completed, enabling participants to assess technical, legal and operational requirements.

The next phase will see a live pilot conducted in a controlled real-world environment in the coming months, providing critical insights into scalability, interoperability and user experience.

Technical delivery is being led by Select ID, a specialist in digital identity infrastructure. 

CEO Nick Mothershaw says: “We are pleased to support this industry initiative to explore how trusted, bank-verified information can be used to make digital verification more secure and convenient for customers and businesses.”

Complementing, not competing with, government frameworks

While the initiative is distinct from the UK government’s digital identity programmes, it is designed to align with the UK digital verification services trust framework.

Its focus remains firmly on private sector and commercial applications rather than public sector use cases.

UK Finance is also actively inviting participation from retailers, digital platforms and other ecosystem players – broadcasting its ambition to build a widely adopted, interoperable network.

If successfully deployed, UK Finance’s initiative could reduce onboarding friction, enhance fraud prevention and unlock new digital business models.

It also reinforces the strategic role of banks as trusted data custodians in an increasingly digital economy.