Monthly Archives: August 2018

Spotlight on Gambit

Meet Gambit

1. What is the mission and vision of Gambit Group of Companies?

Make the world a safer place by offering innovative, efficient, and easy-to-use biometric solutions, while providing renowned customer service.

2. Why is trustworthy digital identity critical for existing and emerging markets?

It can allow much more online activity if you can really trust someone’s identity, thereby making various transactions more convenient and safer for all citizens.

3. How will digital identity transform the Canadian and global economy? How does Gambit address challenges associated with this transformation? 

It can eliminate the need to rely as much on physical documents that in themselves can be forged or become unreliable. It can allow data to be shared in ways that are safe while at the same time making things more flexible and convenient.

We are addressing the challenges associated with this change by providing solutions related to biometrics that can be used as part of many digital identify use cases. We are also working to integrate with other Digital Identity partners to enhance our current product offerings.

4. What role does Canada have to play as a leader in the space?

Canada needs to:

  • Set the policies on sharing of data and privacy for all of its citizens
  • Help guide the Digital Identity standards in this area
  • Ensure proper security controls are in place and Cyber Threats reduced
  • Make sure procurement processes are agile
  • Have an identity strategy this includes Government of Canada employees

5. What else should we know about Gambit?

We are leaders in the Canadian biometrics space with significant experience working with the RCMP, the Policing Community and other government departments on biometric initiatives and the related standards.

Letters from the President: DIACC Amplifying Member Outreach

Connecting global themes with local impact

It has been an exciting year in the digital identity world. From GDPR to blockchain, there has been plenty of activity to spark discussion. Over the past few months, DIACC has attended and presented at digital identity events around the world, from Canada to Germany to New Zealand. At each event, we share the incredible work, values, and cohesion of the DIACC members and shine a spotlight on Canadian leaders in digital ID. In return, we deliver insights to our members, share key learning and development opportunities, and maintain Canada’s connection to the world. Here are some key takeaways from DIACC’s strategic outreach at events, including the KNOW Identity Conference, CIO Health Forum, IdentityNORTH, Blockchain BRC, European Identity Conference, the DIACC Annual General Meeting, and The Point: NZ Payments Conference.

The biggest theme (and one of the most exciting) that came up over and over again was that it is no longer considered optional to solve identity problems. While industry standards setters have been ahead of the curve, recognizing the foundational nature and critical importance of digital ID for some time, other key players have been slower to join the efforts for coordinated action. The growing recognition of digital ID as a critical imperative has resulted in greater focus on R&D that demonstrates the kind of future made possible by digital ID. Identity is shifting from being a nice to have, “ahead of the game” strategy to an essential, “act now” approach. Multiple industries are realizing that solving for identity is essential to keep customers secure and engaged, and to remain competitive as organizations strive to provide the best services.

From an industry perspective, identity management still faces challenges. For years there has been widespread recognition and countless proof points that interoperability is a more reliable, scalable route forward. Despite this admittance, there is still difficulty in securing interoperability around the world and across industries. Significant  investment has gone into the space, and we continue to see more and more entrants join the industry. Growth is steady around the world yet we are still struggling to cross-coordinate efforts at the international scale.

The economic focus and highly collaborative Canadian approach stands out as unique. Canada’s people-first and collaborative strategy is often referenced as an approach to aspire to. The leadership that Canada is demonstrating on a global level has been even more apparent on home soil, with sold out IdentityNORTH events in Montreal and Toronto doubling attendance from previous years, and blockchain events in Vancouver and Toronto attracting a diverse, intergenerational crowd. Seeing Canadians connecting in person and sharing their successes and challenges was a strong reaffirmation of the how important this all is.

While it’s great to have like-minded communities around the world see the value in our approach, more work needs to be done to take a holistic view and solve identity as an ecosystem of peers, partners, and competitors. An ecosystem is necessary in order to secure Canada’s full and beneficial participation in the socioeconomic opportunities the Digital Economy has to offer. An ecosystem of identity solutions and services will help to ensure that every Canadian – from urban centres to rural municipalities – has the opportunity to conveniently access their government services, start an innovative business, and even to invent the next disruptive technology.

Beyond identity for individuals, we need identity for businesses, organizations, and digital relationships to make the system as effective as possible. Identity is included on more and more event agendas but the primary focus remains on personal identity. Little attention is paid to the intersection of how we connect people and businesses. Demonstrating and verifying those relationships will unlock massive potential for transformation. Focusing solely on identity for individuals is like looking at one star in a constellation – it’s an important piece of the puzzle but not the whole picture. To supercharge economic opportunities for all Canadians, identity must be solved to verify people, organizations, and relations with security, privacy, and convenience as paramount principles for success.

Throughout our DIACC outreach efforts, it’s been clear that identity solutions must prioritize inclusive strategies to be worthy of investment here in Canada and around the world. It’s apparent that solving for identity is critical for economic prosperity and, perhaps, even more critical for civic engagement. Strong identification can inform policy makers and build the trust of constituents. Clear examples of identity’s value for civic engagement are evident in the Cambridge Analytica scandal and the rise of the notion of “fake” news. Exploring solutions related to building trust in media and information sources, governance systems, and other hot topics will push the digital identity industry to the forefront and create new opportunities to develop meaningful solutions.

DIACC’s Top Outreach Takeaways for Advancing Digital Identity:

  • Collaboration beats a solo effort every time. DIACC’s community prioritizes a mutual value exchange of collaborators – everyone has something to offer and something to gain.
  • Canada must accelerate delivery of Digital Identity and Authentication interoperability standards, leveraging a healthy balance of speed and pragmatism.
  • While cultures and governance vary around the world, many challenges and opportunities remain the same.
  • The world is paying attention to Canada and we have the opportunity to lead the new age of digital identity by solving challenges using Canadian strengths and principles.

As Canada and the DIACC community continue to deliver value to Canadians and gain prominence across the globe, we look forward to extending even more opportunities to our members to share Canada’s digital identity story at home and on the world stage.

Get in touch for more information on our speakers’ bureau.

Spotlight on Payments Canada

Meet Payments Canada

1. What is the mission and vision of Payments Canada?

Payments Canada ensures that financial transactions in Canada are carried out safely and securely each day. Payments Canada underpins the Canadian financial system and economy by owning and operating Canada’s payment clearing and settlement infrastructure, including associated systems, bylaws, rules and standards.

2. Why is trustworthy digital identity critical for existing and emerging markets?

Secure payments absolutely depend upon secure digital identity and authentication. This is becoming increasingly important as the array of payment methods expand at the point-of-sale and e-commerce environments for consumers and businesses. As new players enter the fintech space and offer services traditionally performed by financial institutions and faster payment solutions, finding identity and authentication solutions that remain secure while minimizing consumer friction will be crucial.

3. How will digital identity transform the Canadian and global economy? How does Payments Canada address challenges associated with this transformation? 

Payments are the backbone of economic activity. More efficient, faster and secure payment processes help to spur economic activity by facilitating consumption, reducing costs and freeing resources. Modern digital identity and authentication are critical components of efficient and secure payment processes for Canadian and global transactions, particularly as cross-border commerce and trade grow.

Payments Canada works closely with its members, stakeholders and the public to develop mechanisms, policies and rules that support efficient and secure payment transactions. It is vital that rules are in place to ensure that relying parties have a clear understanding of their role in safeguarding identity and authentication procedures. At the same time, digital identity and authentication is much bigger than just payments, which is why Payments Canada is working with the financial services industry and organizations like DIACC to ensure our understanding aligns with wider efforts.

4. What role does Canada have to play as a leader in the space?

Canada has many advantages in the digital identity space. End-user demand is high for ubiquitous and low-friction access to digital services and information. We also have a highly-evolved financial infrastructure and cybersecurity methods to balance end-user demand with secure identity and authentication. Canada also possesses rich clusters of technical and academic capability to identify and implement novel solutions to identity management.

In financial services, these factors are particularly pronounced and the industry is evolving quickly to offer easier service with the security of multi-factor authentication, biometric identification, advanced fraud detection and tokenization of sensitive information. The regulatory environment in financial services is also quite stringent with regards to Know-Your-Client (KYC), Anti-Money Laundering (AML), and Terrorist Financing (TF) identity-related  processes and reporting requirements. Canada will be harnessing these factors to develop world-leading identity management and authentication processes in the coming years and will likely assume a leadership role in this area.

5. What else should we know about Payments Canada?

In 2017, Payments Canada cleared and settled over 7.5 billion transactions totaling over $50 trillion or about $200 billion each business day. We are critical to the efficient functioning of the Canadian economy and our Large Value Transfer System (LVTS) and Automated Clearing and Settlement System (ACSS) are designated by the Bank of Canada as systemically important payment systems (SIPS) and prominent payments systems (PPS) respectively. 

Payments Canada is leading a multi-year industry program to modernize the infrastructure, rules and standards that underpin payments in Canada. These improvements will strengthen our resilience, align with international standards and create a platform for innovation, enabling new and exciting ways for Canadians to pay for goods and services, transfer funds and exchange data about their payments.