The Fin-ternet of Things

The success of fintech is reliant on the development of new, advanced digital identity systems. But, as our data becomes ever more connected, collected and exchanged by the Internet of Things, who should take responsibility for the ownership of our digital identity?

The World Economic Forum concluded in a recent article that as intelligence becomes more widely distributed across our economy, the nature of identity data including financial assets, digital assets, rights management, intellectual property and royalties must be fundamentally reassessed.

When it comes to shaping how digital identities will be protected into the future, according to Innovate Finance this week, it will be financial institutions, governments and digital companies who take a leading role. These organisations are already tackling regulation relating to digital identity and pioneering new ways of storing information to provide the security consumers need.

One example is Microsoft who more than 14 years ago trialed a centralised identity service. Today, Facebook has entirely revolutionised its approach to digital identity data management to ensure every user is prompted to consider what personal data is publically available. Yet, despite the role of social networks and digital companies, ultimately it is likely that financial institutions including banks and intermediaries could become the main channel for data identity management with data transactions an extension of their current role in managing money flows.

Of course, the true issue is not be who should take charge, but how to develop standardised, secure data management technology to ensure digital identity systems do not compromise privacy for the sake of profit.