Cambridge Blockchain and IHS Markit have teamed up to bring distributed digital identity technology to the collection and management of know-your-customer information.
KYC costs now exceed $500 million a year for big banks, while strict data privacy rules such as the European GDPR limit the ability to access validated customer identity attributes and come with big potential fines.
The partners claim that, by combining IHS Markit’s kyc.com services with Cambridge Blockchain’s distributed digital identity system, they can help firms resolve the competing challenges of transparency and privacy, resulting in faster customer onboarding, lower costs, and enhanced compliance through a single, trusted and consistent view of customer reference data.
IHS Markit's kyc.com already services 17 global banks and more than 140,000 registered legal entities. This, say the firms, will be complimented by Cambridge Blockchain’s software, which offers a secure, client-controlled peer-to-peer data sharing and a platform to connect multiple identity validators.
Guy Harrison, head, KYC Services, IHS Markit, says: "The creation of utilities and other consortia to help financial institutions address the challenges of KYC has great potential improve standards and practices.
"However, for firms to operate efficiently on a global scale, identity data need to be highly portable. With this in mind, we are pleased to work with Cambridge Blockchain to apply the benefits of distributed ledger technology to a robust KYC data collection, validation and management process."