SecureKey Technologies Inc. wants to help financial services firms harness the blockchain to verify their users.
On Wednesday, the Toronto-based authentication firm announced that fintech Sun Life Financial Inc. had become the latest financial services provider to support Verified.Me, its new client authentication tool that will use blockchain technology to verify user identities.
Other partners in the Verified.Me ecosystem include Desjardins, National Bank, and each of Canada’s Big Five banks.
Few other details were given, except that Verified.Me will allow the clients of participating financial services firms to conduct business by “conveniently and securely” sharing identifying information from other “trusted providers” including banks, telecommunications firms, and governments.
Nor was a release date announced, though according to a Feb. 7 release Sun Life expects to introduce the technology to Canadian clients “in the coming months.”
“As we take the next step along our digital transformation journey, we’ll soon be able to streamline and simplify the onboarding process for new clients by using SecureKey’s permission-based tools and blockchain security to instantly verify personal information,” Sun Life executive vice-president and CIO Mark Saunders said in the press release.
“We are very excited for Sun Life to join the Verified.Me ecosystem,” SecureKey founder and CEO Greg Wolfond added in the release. “Through this strategic relationship, Sun Life is reinforcing its commitment to providing the best possible digital experience for its clients.”
Blockchains are distributed databases that record, validate, and organize the information created by users performing online actions, such as making a purchase or posting an article online. The information they collect is distributed across networks, making it an especially useful security platform.