Banks urged to explore identity management

Banks have a big opportunity in the field of identity management, according to Lazaro Campos, the chief executive of international payments standards body SWIFT.
      
The growth of e-commerce means that consumers are being asked to supply personal details to a large number of merchants supplying goods online.

Campos, who was speaking at yesterday's Australian Payment Clearing Association symposium, said: "How many times are we asked to give our details to a website? Each time we do that we expose our personal details to someone else's security. That is not a comfortable position to be in.

"A key component of payments infrastructure is identity management. Banks have not done enough work in that area."

Three years ago, SWIFT established an incubator business called Innotribe, one of whose products is an identity management system called Digital Asset Grid.

Campos said banks could use this system to become the custodians of customers' private details and to provide merchants with controlled access.

Campos said: "In the digital world personal details are currency. There is an opportunity for banks to be the trusted guardian of that information.

"It sounds like science fiction, but that is what we are working on. We want to make sure that when the next PayPal comes along the banks don't turn their backs on it."