ATB Ventures, the research arm of Alberta-based financial institution ATB Financial, has launched its suite of digital identity products: Oliu platform, Oliu Studio and a digital-credential wallet called Proof. The launch comes weeks after the federal government announced its National Digital Identity Program.
According to the company, in a “climate of misconception of digital identity, consumers are demanding greater transparency and ownership over their personal data from the organizations they engage with. With global privacy regulations continuing to expand and modernize at an accelerated rate, organizations need to advance their privacy approaches and practices now.”
Sue McGill, senior vice president with ATB Ventures, said, “For the past two years, we’ve been working with consumers, the public and private sectors to design a trusted identity system that can easily issue credentials and authenticate personal identity.
“Building, implementing, and driving widespread adoption of a secure, digital ID solution at scale is complex and requires input from all participants.”
Anchored in the PAN Canadian Trust Framework, the Oliu suite of digital identity products has been designed and built as a decentralized offering that denies hackers a single point of attack, the company said.
Built-in safeguards “ensure privacy and security while also giving users ownership and control of their data. For consumers, this brings autonomy to their digital lives, as personal data resides with the individual and not a third party granting or tracking access to their credentials.”
Oliu, the company added, addresses basic digital identity needs such as verification and authentication, and also helps to mitigate more advanced problems.
“Consumers live their lives online and digital interactions are only increasing,” said McGill. “If Canada wants to remain competitive, we need to accelerate our digitization efforts.”
The demand and growth of the digital identity market is accelerating, with a recent report from Polaris Market Research placing its global market value at US$23.4 billion.
Polaris notes that, geographically, North America accounted for the highest share of the global industry in 2021, and is likely to “dominate the industry over the coming years due to the early adoption of digital identity solutions across businesses and industry verticals for managing tasks effectively and securely.
“Moreover, businesses and industries in this region are increasingly deploying digital identify solutions to enable data security and ensure security and confidentiality of data to facilitate business continuity.”
