In today’s digital age, consumers are asked to provide personal information on average 18 times a year for many use cases such as opening a bank account, buying a house, or accessing adult services such as gambling.[1] The new service, called HooYu ID, gives consumers the option of creating a digital ID to assert their identity safely and securely in the digital or the physical world.

HooYu ID stores verified identity credentials in an app on a user’s smartphone and the validated identity evidence is encrypted on the device and protected by biometric and PIN code access. The user’s identity details are stored cryptographically on the app, which HooYu cannot access. Firms that need to check identity for age verification or financial crime purposes are issued with an identity report and certified evidence, when the user grants permission via the app.

As part of the product launch, HooYu has released a report examining consumer attitudes towards identity checking processes. In a pool of over 2,000 respondents, 74% of the public said they were frustrated at having to repeatedly provide personal information to pass identity check processes. 89% of the public said that they found the idea of a re-usable digital identity facility appealing. Consumers cited frustration with repeated, time consuming processes and concerns of being in control of who receives their personal information as reasons for embracing digital identity.

“Some of our clients asked us about building a digital identity for their users to port between their portfolio brands, for example, large banking groups or multi-brand online gambling operators. Other clients such as mortgage lenders or law firms want us to join the dots for house buying and selling journeys where the user is asked to prove their identity to four different parties as part of one transaction”, said David Pope, Marketing Director at HooYu.

This new service comes as the UK government prepares to launch a digital identity trust framework and subsequent regulation that will encourage UK consumers to build and manage their own digital identity.

Nick Mothershaw, CEO of the Open Identity Exchange said, “The last twelve months have proved formative as government, industry and identity providers have coalesced around a set of standards in interoperable re-usable digital identity and we welcome identity providers such as HooYu as members of OIX, as together we help make digital identity a reality.”

Gareth Narinesingh, Head of Digital Identity at HooYu commented, “Our approach to digital identity puts the user in control of their identity and is designed with security and privacy in mind. At the same time, relying parties that need to perform KYC on their users can rely on HooYu ID and the tried and tested range of KYC services that HooYu already performs for some of the biggest banks in the UK.”