From Trust to Growth: The Business Case for Digital Client Verification in Open Banking and Lending

Three Core Themes Explored

Participants explored three core themes:

• quantifying fraud prevention and risk mitigation, converting trust into business growth
• leveraging digital trust
• verification as a strategic competitive advantage

The discussions revealed strong consensus around treating digital trust and verification as critical infrastructure rather than compliance overhead, while highlighting the need for business-problem-solving standards and clearer metrics to demonstrate return on investment.

Key Outcomes

Key outcomes included recommendations to develop shared metrics for fraud prevention, prioritize frictionless user experiences, and position Canada’s regulatory framework as a global differentiator in digital trust ecosystems.

Recommendations on quantifying fraud prevention and risk mitigation, converting trust into business growth

• Develop Shared Industry Metrics: Create standardized measurements for fraud avoided and efficiency gained that can be adopted across sectors to enable meaningful benchmarking.
• Lifecycle Cost Analysis: Conduct thorough build-versus-buy assessments that capture total lifecycle cost benefits, including both direct and indirect savings from fraud prevention.

Recommendations on leveraging digital trust

• Prioritize Frictionless Experience: Treat user experience as a measurable growth driver with dedicated metrics and executive accountability.
• Capture Drop-off Metrics: Implement comprehensive tracking of conversion drop-off points and onboarding speed to identify improvement opportunities.
• Enable Cross-Sector Data Sharing: Encourage secure data sharing frameworks that expand market access to underserved populations, including underbanked individuals and newcomers to Canada.

Recommendations on verification as a strategic competitive advantage

• Leverage Regulatory Credibility: Position Canada’s strong regulatory environment and institutional trust as a global differentiator in digital trust and verification markets.
• Build Cross-Sector Alignment: Develop consensus around reusable, standards-based identity systems that work across industries and use cases.
• Frame IDV as Revenue Enabler: Communicate digital trust and verification as a driver of new revenue streams, product innovation opportunities, and enhanced international competitiveness rather than simply a cost center.