The City of London Corporation is asking technology firms to help shape a new digital verification system designed to reduce fraud, cut duplication in financial services checks and make it easier for consumers to access products securely.
The proposed Digital Verification Orchestrator, or DVO, would act as a secure connection layer between identity providers and financial services firms that need to verify customers. Rather than asking consumers to repeatedly prove their identity with different banks, lenders or financial services providers, the model would allow verified identity information to be reused securely across participating organisations.
The City Corporation estimates that a successful system could unlock nearly £5 billion in economic benefits over five years, through reduced fraud and improvements to the UK’s digital infrastructure.
Verifying once, reusing securely
Under the proposed model, an individual would verify their identity once with a trusted provider. Other financial services organisations could then confirm that identity through the orchestrator, without the DVO acting as a data store or directly holding personal information.
The aim is to reduce repeated checks, lower administrative costs and make it harder for fraudsters to exploit gaps between firms. If suspected fraud is flagged within the network, the system could alert other participating firms, reducing the number of entry points available to criminals.
The City Corporation said the work forms part of a wider response to fraud, alongside its role as police authority for the City of London Police, which leads the national policing response on fraud, cyber and economic crime.
According to Chris Hayward, policy chairman of the City of London Corporation, fraud has become a major cost for the banking sector.
“Fraud is a plague on banks’ balance sheets, costing them over £1 billion last year. To help mitigate this – we need a digital-first economy that instils trust in the system and delivers clear benefits to consumers through faster, safer, and more seamless access to financial services,” he said.
“It’s this conviction that has motivated our work to champion the development and introduction of a digital verification service.
“Innovation enables new dangers – but it also solves them too. We’re asking companies who can provide this infrastructure to step forward and lead the sector’s fightback against fraud.”
A new trust layer for financial services
The DVO initiative has been developed to support trusted digital verification at scale, particularly in financial services. It builds on engagement with industry and government, as well as the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology’s Digital Verification Services Trust Framework.
The blueprint being developed by the City Corporation is expected to set out the responsibilities of a DVO, the credentials required to fulfil the role and examples of existing market capability.
According to the initiative, a DVO would be expected to set or apply minimum standards for participants, support secure data transfer, enable interoperability between identity systems and coordinate trusted verification flows across the market. It would not act as a regulator, data store or quality assurance body for underlying identity attributes.
Ezechi Britton MBE, Chair of the Digital Verification Orchestrator Initiative, said the model was intended to address fragmentation across the financial sector.
“Fraud thrives on fragmentation, and the Digital Verification Orchestrator Initiative is about fixing that – giving the financial sector a modern, interoperable way to verify identity once and reuse it securely across the system,” he said.
“This is a clear opportunity for technology firms to help scale UK-wide digital infrastructure that delivers real-world impact: cutting fraud, reducing friction for consumers, and lowering costs for firms.”
Testing the model in high-value use cases
The initiative is particularly focused on financial services use cases such as know your customer checks, onboarding, credit access, ongoing verification to reduce fraud, and the portability of verified information between institutions.
Alderman Sushil Saluja, Vice-Chair of the DVO Initiative, said the model could provide a “trust layer” for identity verification across financial services.
“The Digital Verification Orchestrator model offers a pragmatic way forward – advancing a trust layer so firms can verify identity more securely, while making everyday interactions quicker and safer for consumers,” he said.
The call for input is not a tender or procurement process. Firms are being asked to provide feedback on the proposed model and demonstrate existing market capability. Responses close at 9.30am on Thursday 14 May.
