The BT Unified Trading federation will be accessible by the more than 15,000 member sites in the BT Radianz Cloud, facilitating the secure interchange of identities between financial firms, identity providers and service providers.

Firms will retain responsibility for their own directories, authentication and the attributes they allow third-parties to see with the federation facilitating the secure exchange of that information.

The system will use Hitachi's finger vein authentication engine and technology to identify users, providing financial institutions with "tangible user convenience, cost savings and productivity benefits, as well as improved security, an automatic audit trail, and improved compliance," say the partners.

Tom Regent, president, global banking and financial markets and sales and marketing, BT Global Services, says: "Greater security for storing and accessing customer information and transacting with business partners is becoming an increasingly prevalent regulatory requirement for the financial industry. And so, it was clear that a new approach was needed for identity management, one that employed new methods and new technology. That is why we have been working closely with the financial services community to extend our award-winning BT Unified Trading solution, by adding federated identity management to the rich collaboration and compliance capabilities."

Akira Shimizu, managing director, Hitachi Europe, adds: "Our Finger Vein Authentication Engine and technology adds a new dimension to the BT Unified Trading federation offer. It provides assurance over the identity of those accessing privileged information and makes the connection between the individual and the credentials they hold."