Monthly Archives: July 2019

2020 Pre-Budget Submission

DIACC’s Written Submission for the Pre-Budget Consultations in Advance of the 2020 Budget

Ahead of the 2020 federal budget, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance is asking Canadians to share their input. 

DIACC is pleased to have submitted a brief, calling on the Federal Government to implement the following recommendations: 

1. Commit to co-developing and co-investing in the Pan-Canadian Trust Framework in collaboration with private sector partners, taking the following points into consideration. 

2. Champion the importance and uses of digital identity for businesses, health care centres, academic institutions, civil society, and all Canadians. 

3. Move with speed, focus and partnership to enable a made-in-Canada Digital ID and Authentication ecosystem of solutions and services, made for Canadians, by Canadians. 

Read DIACC’s full Pre-Budget Consultation Submission.

DIACC-Pre-Budget-Consultation-Submission-July-2019

Letters from the President: The Importance of Transparency in DIACC’s Pan-Canadian Trust Framework (PCTF) Development

Transparency, accountability, and inclusion, these are critical not only to the PCTF, but also to the process by which it is developed.

Inclusive, open, and meets broad stakeholder needs

Just as an identity ecosystem must be open and broad in stakeholder engagement, so too must be the self-governing body that delivers the interoperability framework and supporting materials. The body must include varying orders of government and diverse industry stakeholders across Canada and the international stage. DIACC members and the public must have transparency regarding not only the deliverables, but also in clear rules around how engagement is fostered and ultimately to how votes are taken and how decisions are made. 

Transparent in governance and operation

Building on the above principle, an identity ecosystem must also be transparent in its operations, and governance. DIACC takes pride in a transparent approach in developing and delivering materials, with all parties having full clarity throughout every step of the process.

Although transparency and openness are often closely associated, they are not one and the same. Openness means that any individual or organization can participate, and DIACC achieves this through reviews of each draft of the PCTF. This is also evident by our collaborative document reviews that have progressed at an accelerated pace over the past six months. 

Transparency, on the other hand, relates to:

  • How clearly members can see how DIACC’s work is developing
  • What is the governance for the development of the work 
  • How submitted comments are tracked and handled 
  • Who our members are, and what benefits are offered to them 
  • What is our “why” for existing

To ensure fair practice, organizations that seek to connect the interests of diverse participants who have similar priorities with differing areas of focus need to have clear and transparent rules for operation. 

The transparency in our collaborative governance helps to ensure that our work is not just another rubber stamping exercise, but rather our deliverables are strongly vetted by diverse Pan-Canadian and international stakeholders to deliver the best possible framework that delivers value to our public and private sectors.

This buy-in is necessary to truly transform Canada, with solutions built on standards that are force multipliers toward realizing a digital-first country. It is crucial to have perspectives from various parties, including service providers and service consumers. 

We continually review and revise our operational policies to ensure that they meet the needs of all stakeholders and provide the basis of good governance and fair practices across our organization. 

The PCTF Model 3 Draft Recommendation V1.0 recently closed, and based on the input received, DIACC plans to modify and make improvements to this draft, as well as expand on, clarify, and refine its content. 

The PCTF Community Editing team will work with DIACC’s Trust Framework Expert Committee (TFEC) to review and resolve comments received, and will then work towards the next iteration of this draft. The open review period for the Privacy Conformance Profile and Component Overview Discussion Drafts is set to begin on August 6.

To be a part of the change you want to see, stay informed about happenings in the digital identity space, learn more about how you can contribute to discussion drafts or become a member, contact us

Spotlight on Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation (CDIC)

What is the mission and vision of CDIC?

CDIC is a global leader in deposit insurance and resolution.  We are a federal Crown corporation – a part of the Government of Canada – that protects eligible deposits at each of our member financial institutions (banks, trust and loan companies, associations governed by the Cooperative Credit Associations Act that take deposits, and federal credit unions).  In addition, CDIC is Canada’s resolution authority, which means we take the lead in handling the failure of our members – from smallest to largest – to protect eligible deposits.

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

Canadians perform billions of transactions through our member institutions each year. A trustworthy digital identity would provide Canadians with confidence that their data is being used as intended and in a secure manner when transacting digitally.

As a deposit insurer and resolution authority, during a failure, CDIC would require line of sight to accurate deposit and depositor data so money can be quickly and securely reimbursed.  A digital identity could be used to authenticate a depositor online to assure CDIC that payment is going to the right depositor at the right time.

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

We believe Canadians should have choice in how they receive information, as well as payments – even in the event of a bank failure.

CDIC strives to stay abreast of trends and appetites of its stakeholders, particularly eligible depositors, and routinely maintains and modernizes its reimbursement processes to optimize information and payments available to Canadians in the event of a failure.   A digital identity would help to expand our depth of online services to Canadians and reduce the potential for fraud or misuse of sensitive data so that depositors can have choice and control of payment methods. 

What role does Canada have to play as a leader in this space?

CDIC is part of the federal financial safety net helping to ensure a stable financial system and a healthy economy.  We know that financial services are critical to all Canadians and digital financial services are proliferating at a significant pace.  Participating in the development of a digital identity framework supports our mandate to act for the benefit of depositors and contribute to financial stability. 

Why did CDIC join DIACC?

CDIC joined DIACC to inform our transformation journey and to contribute to thought-leadership in digital authentication, which affects the depositors we protect and the members institutions we regulate.

What else should we know about CDIC?

Since 1967, we have handled 43 member institution failures that touched over 2 million Canadians. And throughout that time, no depositor has lost a single dollar that was protected by CDIC.

As Canadians think about their futures and the security of their money, they should rest assured that CDIC will be there to protect their savings at all our member institutions.

Spotlight on 100101075 Tech Inc.

  1. What is the mission and vision of 100101075 Tech Inc.? 

Our vision is to create a world where everyone is able to conduct the business they need to conduct, safely, in a digital environment. To that end, our mission is to create an encrypted communication tool that will allow users to identify the human beings they are interacting with, “meet” with those people, and sign all forms of documents, including affidavits, statutory declarations, land title documents and wills, digitally. 

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

It sounds obvious, and maybe a little trite, to say that existing and emerging markets require a trustworthy digital identity, but it is absolutely true. For example, lawyers are currently unable to meet with their clients virtually to confirm their identity and sign most documents. Without a trusted digital identity, large segments of our society will simply not be able to participate in the digital economy. 

3. How will digital identity transform the Canadian and global economy? How does 100101075 Tech Inc. address challenges associated with this transformation? 

The initial use case for our platform will be people in the legal ecosystem, such as lawyers, banks and title insurance companies. This is an area that is desperate for disruptive innovation but there are significant barriers preventing that innovation from happening. Our platform will fundamentally change how people in the legal system interact, allow us to do a better job of preventing fraud and also improve the level of service we are providing to our clients. 

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

We believe that Canada can be a world leader in the digital identity space. However, all segments of our society will need to work together to create the systemic change that needs to occur. 

5. Why did 100101075 Tech Inc. join the DIACC? 

We have joined the DIACC to connect with leaders in the digital identity space, learn about the work they are doing and hopefully contribute to the creation of a trusted digital identity framework. 

6. What else should we know about 100101075 Tech Inc.? 

We are currently conducting a pilot project with the Law Society of Alberta to test our communication tool and that pilot is set to start in July 2019. We currently have 50 entities, including law firms, law societies across Canada, lenders, title insurance companies and insurance companies participating in the pilot as observers and we would welcome any DIACC member who has an interest in this pilot project to participate as an observer.

DIACC Industry Insights: Digital ID in Financial Services

What is Digital ID and how does it impact key industries and their customers?

This ‘mini white paper’ is the first in a four-part series prepared by DIACC, highlighting the potential impact that digital ID could have on key sectors of the Canadian (and global) economy.  

The focus of this first paper is the financial services industry. Find out what you need to know about the need for improving security, simplifying transactions and improving efficiencies, and how this will impact key industry stakeholders.

Read the full paper: DIACC Industry Insights: Digital ID in Financial Services

Industry-Insights-Digital-ID-in-Financial-Services-July-2019

Spotlight on Onfido

Meet Onfido

  1. What is the mission and vision of Onfido?

Our company mission is to create an open world where identity is the key to access. Over the coming years, everything you access online, from opening a bank account, to checking into a hotel or ordering prescription drugs will be based on your ability to easily prove your legal identity. We are standardizing that industry by helping everyone prove their legal identity with just a photo of their government issued ID and a selfie. 

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

Identity theft is the largest and fastest-growing crime in the world. That is holding back human progress, which has always been based on our ability to build trust and cooperate. Roughly 5 per cent of global GDP, or $2 trillion is laundered money which is used for human trafficking, drug trafficking and terrorist activity. Less than 1 per cent of this is seized by authorities. 

Trust is needed for any transaction to work. The oldest method of building trust is to meet others face to face – but that’s not scalable. More recently, our global economy has been underpinned by the credit bureaus – but since the recent breaches (e.g., Desjardins), this method no longer offers any security. The credit bureaus also exclude half the world’s adult population who are underbanked or unbanked.

It is time to move away from the centralised credit bureau model, to a decentralised portable identity model where consumers own and control their digital identity and instead of taking hours to verify their identity, the process takes 30 seconds. Onfido is actively working on making this a reality. For example, we are part of the UK’s FCA sandbox, looking to create and validate standards around decentralized identity, we are a founding partner of the Better Identity Coalition and most recently, we launched a new identity working group with the FIDO Alliance.

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

When it comes to spearheading a decentralized identity, Canada is really leading the way. The news of SecureKey partnering with five mainstream Canadian banks to offer an “open banking” approach of securely sharing customer data, is years ahead of other countries. Soon, Canadians with bank accounts from these five banks will have the benefit of being able to securely share their data in order to see their health records, open a new bank account, or get a new mobile phone. This not only makes it easier for consumers to share their data, but unlocks customer value for service providers.

As Canada continues to test and set the tone and guard rails for this technology, other countries will follow.

4. Why did Onfido join the DIACC?

Onfido wants to be an enabler in the portable identity space.  This means partnering and helping as many organizations as possible pursue decentralized identity models and put them into practice. By joining the DIACC, we are well placed to learn and contribute from leaders in this space.

5. What else should we know about Onfido?

We work with 1,500 companies spanning a number of industries, including financial services, travel, insurance, healthcare and gaming. Companies wishing to know more about what we do should go to our website: onfido.com, join one of our demos or give us a call. We are happy to help!