Have you ever stopped to think about how important trust is to the relationships we have with each other and the organizations we interact with? It’s not easy to build, and once it’s lost, it’s even harder to regain.

As financial services move increasingly online, consumers and businesses are interacting with a wider range of providers, and personal information is being stored in multiple digital environments. It’s important for financial companies to maintain trust with their customers as they are responsible for securing this financial information.

In today’s rapidly evolving world, technology is changing what we consider to be our “identity.” Traditional forms of identification that prove who we are, such as the driver’s license or passport, don’t translate well into the digital environment. Instead, the information we previously shared through paper documents is being developed online through digital ID profiles.

But how do we establish trust in that digital world? It’s made up of three main parts.

1. What information defines our identity
2. How we confirm who we are
3. Who holds our identity

Each of these is being redefined today as the next generation of the trust ecosystem is being formed.

A new identity for the digital age

Traditional identity is centrally managed by governments where they define what information is collected to create the identification profile and how that information will be stored by the individual. Typically, that has been a physical ID card that is always carried by us. That system works in a physical environment, but those legacy identity standards do not carry over cleanly to the digital world.

Governments are working to digitize the IDs they provide their citizens, but there is also an entire industry dedicated to creating digital ID profiles. This means that alongside a government-issued ID, a person may also have multiple ID profiles created by different parties and used for different purposes.

Proving who you are in a digital world

When it comes to proving who we are in the physical world, we use a variety of methods like passwords, phones, credit cards, passports, driver’s licenses and even our signatures. In the physical world, it’s easy to authenticate someone we know, but in the digital world, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to authentication. The systems have grown more complex for the user, but fraud rates continue to rise.

It doesn’t need to be that way.

Innovation in identity is moving us towards a world where we are the only thing needed to validate ourselves using biometric or behavioral elements that are unique to us and that we can’t forget, lose or damage. We are working towards a future where there will be consistency across channel, location or device – a future where we eliminate complexity and increase security.

Technological and regulatory advances are moving us closer to a password-less and device-less authentication future, where the use of physical and behavioral biometric traits at mass will depend on the level of risk associated with a particular transaction and a consumer’s willingness to have that data captured. This future will shift the balance of power to the consumer and help minimize fraud and meet new regulatory requirements aimed at protecting personal information.

A decentralized world of identity

As financial experiences move to contextual interactions, a consumer’s digital identity will be the gatekeeper for accessing financial services. With the emphasis on companies meeting customers where they are, financial capabilities will become embedded at the point of need. It will be important to ensure IDs are seamlessly shared across channels, systems and even companies to enhance the user experience.

With multiple forms of ID being stored in different locations and accessed in various ways, it is important for individuals to be able to centrally manage all the components of their ID in an identity wallet.

To enable that, financial service companies will need to adopt an ID and authentication strategy that can accommodate multiple forms of digital identification and ensure a seamless and friction-free experience for consumers.

Future of the trust ecosystem

Financial institutions are usually seen as trustworthy organizations. But with all the changes in technology and how we use it, that trust must be constantly maintained and even built upon. As technology advances and our methods of interacting with these institutions change, their responsibility to protect our personal information remains the same.

At FIS®, we are watching a new trust ecosystem being defined. Instead of relying on a physical card or document, there are now more sophisticated methods for proving your identity. The information that defines a person’s identity will come from a variety of sources, and where that ID is stored is moving beyond a physical wallet.

How consumers interact with us tomorrow will look vastly different than it did yesterday, but our obligation to safeguard their personal information remains the same. That’s why FIS is committed to providing the necessary technology and expertise to maintain the trust we’ve built with consumers.