, an identity and authentication provider, has announced that the will join its blockchain-powered “Cloud Identity Ecosystem”. By bringing together separate parties in financial services, telecommunications, healthcare, government and more, the blockchain network aims to bring both convenience and security to organizations, institutions, governments and citizens. With National Bank of Canada on board consumers will be able to opt in to the blockchain-based service using a mobile app, accessing trusted digital credentials with a partner organization of the user’s choice. Consumers who have proven their identity with their bank and a credit agency will be able to grant permission to share their data with an outside party (e.g. a utility company) to create a new account. Because the bank and credit agency have already identified the consumer’s identity, and because those institutions are trusted, the utility can choose to rely on the fact that the information is verified, saving the customer the hassle of proving their identity to apply for service. SecureKey also secured a USD 800,000 grant from the US government and added IBM as a partner in 2017. Other Canada-based financial institutions onboard with SecureKey and IBM are BMO, CIBC, Desjardins, RBC, Scotiabank, and TD. In October 2016, The banks invested USD 27 million into SecureKey.
The National Bank of Canada has become the latest organisation to join Scotiabank Technologies' blockchain-backed Cloud Identity Ecosystem, following SecureKey, Desjardins and the Royal Bank of Canada. The platform aims to improve convenience and security for consumers surrounding identity authentication and brings together the healthcare, financial and government sectors, among others. Earlier this year, Scotiabank added IBM as a partner and won an $800,000 grant from the US government.