Corporate identity must adapt as the road to digital ID gets closer

The Labour government’s plans to introduce a mandatory Digital ID system highlight the urgency of preparing for corporate digital identity, according to Cindy van Niekerk, CEO of digital identification platform Umazi.

The UK government announced the proposed BritCard, a digital ID to be stored on smartphones and required for right-to-work checks, with rollout planned by 2029.

The announcement has been met with mixed reactions, but van Niekerk believes implementation will happen far sooner than anticipated, provided industry and government work together.

“As an optimist, I believe the road to Digital ID implementation will be shorter if we collaborate as an industry,” said van Niekerk.

“That means fintech’s, regulators and government supporting the digital identity ecosystem already built by innovators. If we bring all the puzzle pieces together collaboratively, we will get there faster.”

Van Niekerk notes that consumers quickly adapt to digital tools when convenience is clear.

“We’re very comfortable using our phones to pay for things, and that took off like wildfire. Nobody thinks twice about paying with their phone anymore. In the US, several states already allow digital driver’s licences, and in Estonia and Singapore, digital identity is embedded into daily life. Estonia uses a single card for everything from public transport to banking, while in Singapore, one identifier underpins employment, utilities and onboarding. These examples show how fast adoption can happen when the infrastructure is in place.”

While much of the debate focuses on individual identities, Umazi stresses the need to extend this thinking to organisations.

“The UK government must also shift its focus to corporate digital identities, arming organisations with legal identifiers,” van Niekerk continued. “Financial institutions, fintech’s and regulators need to come together and collaborate on a more robust compliance process to prevent financial crime.”

According to Umazi, reusable corporate data is central to this future. If organisations can use verified data from Companies House to onboard with a bank, reuse that same data with a law firm, and apply it again for supply chain due diligence, risk flags can be raised automatically in real time.

“In order to future-proof compliance, data must be reusable so the industry can create a connected process, most anti-money laundering failings happen as verifications and data are captured in silo’s which means data is out of date almost immediately. Corporate digital identity platforms make that possible.”

Van Niekerk concludes with a warning that continuing with outdated, manual identification processes is no longer sustainable. “Organisations do not have the manpower or technology resources to tackle anti-money laundering effectively using manual methods. They need real-time solutions. In a simplistic form, why can’t we use a business passport or corporate ID to build trust across ecosystems, just like we do with personal passports? Corporate digital identity platforms build resilience, reduce compliance costs and allow businesses to manage risk dynamically. This is the future of compliance.”