Digital transformation is changing the way Canadians access and administer services, conduct business and interact digitally. The shift from analog to digital is reinforcing the importance of trust, convenience, and access while prompting the question: How do we ensure people are given greater choice?
To answer this question, governments, private sector organizations and consumer associations across Canada are advancing verification and authentication capabilities intended to give users choice over how they access digital services securely and provide peace of mind when interacting digitally.
In this article you’ll learn:
- What is digital verification?
- The increasing need for digital verification in Canada
- What is the role of Interac in verification?
- What is Interac Verified?
- What does verification mean for Canadians?
- How Interac Verified will work in practice.
- FAQs and more info about digital verification in Canada
What is digital verification?
Digital verification can mean many things, but at its essence, it’s a way for individuals to digitally verify and authenticate themselves in order to access digital services that require personal data verification. Digital verification has applications across private and public sectors, with a range of uses intended to simplify and streamline the customer experience.
For example, with secure digital verification, financial institutions can enhance their services for customers who prefer to interact digitally by streamlining Know Your Client (KYC) processes. KYC rules require financial institutions to verify an individual’s identity before opening a bank account. This includes in-person verification using paper documentation. Digital verification can help reduce manual processing, generate cost savings, and even allow Canadians to open accounts or register for services without visiting a physical branch.
Trusted verification solutions can also help enable digital transformation within government services. Not only can this remove barriers to access, such as physical location or hours of operation, it can also streamline administrative tasks and reduce backlogs. This is especially important when speed of service is critical.
Verification solutions can also help transform the way medium to large businesses deliver services and help reduce the burden of administrative tasks.
The increasing need for digital verification solutions in Canada
Canadians are increasingly exchanging personal data online, from financial data to their personal credentials. This is combined with an expectation of online service delivery which has accelerated the need for strong digital verification capabilities in the market.
According to an Interac survey, nearly seven in 10 Canadians (69 per cent) are expecting to be able to access all government services online. However, even in today’s digital-first world, much of our processes are still analog. This can create inconsistencies and can cause delays when accessing services.
Further, nearly eight in 10 Canadians (77 per cent) polled feel their personal data is more exposed than ever before. Access to verification solutions can unlock economic prosperity in the growing digital economy — while helping to reduce digital fraud.
Verification solutions help support Canada’s growing digital economy by enabling transformation at different levels of business and government and simplifying access for Canadians.
What is the role of Interac in verification?
You may already be familiar with verification and authentication in Canada if you’ve used one of our solutions, such as Interac sign-in service when accessing your tax information or signing in to other participating government services. This means you verified your data with approved digital credentials you already trust.
Interac has proven experience partnering with governments, financial institutions, and other private sector organizations.
With our history of providing secure payment services, Interac aims to work with government and other organizations to provide Canadians with greater choice to access digital services and conduct business online.
That’s why we are bringing decades of experience delivering payments to provide faster and more efficient ways to help Canadians digitally verify and authenticate their data when accessing participating government and business services. We have a proven track record of collaboration with nearly 300 financial institutions connected to the Interac network and over 280 government services relying on our authentication and digital sign-in tools.
What is Interac Verified?
Interac Verified is the umbrella brand for a suite of solutions that allows Canadians to easily and conveniently authenticate and verify their personal information to access participating business or government services. Interac Verified solutions include:
- Interac sign-in service is a secure and convenient way to access digital government services by using existing login credentials with a participating financial institution eliminating the need to create and manage a new user ID or password.
- Interac verification service makes the process of verification smoother by providing users the option to use existing login credentials with a participating financial institution for secure digital verification of their data and identity for participating services that require personal data confirmation.
- Interac document verification service enables users the option to digitally confirm their identity using a liveliness check and accepted forms of government documents using their mobile phones. This gives fast and convenient access to participating digital government and business services that require identity verification.
What does digital verification mean for Canadians?
Canadians are increasingly accessing sensitive information and completing interactions digitally – whether filing a tax return, retrieving critical health records, or making a purchase – and need trusted solutions they can rely on to complete these transactions.
Physical documents can limit the control we have over our information. Too often this means sharing more information than is necessary, which may put us at an increased risk for fraud if documents were to get lost or shared incorrectly.
Choosing to digitally verify personal data can minimize the flow of sensitive information between the user and the service provider. This helps give Canadians more choice and convenience in how they access digital services and speeds up processes that require verification and authentication.
Consider how verification solutions could improve security and privacy in real estate, for example.
Applying for a mortgage means collecting and sharing copies of sensitive information including driver’s license, credit history, pay stubs and bank statements. These copies may be scanned and sent via email or given to a mortgage advisor to keep on file. But where is that information being stored? Who has access to those files, and for how long? Verification solutions can provide a way for users to share only the minimum information required to complete an online transaction and via channels more secure than email.
How Interac Verified will work in practice.
Canadians are already using Interac Verified to conveniently access government and business services that require a form of personal data verification. For participating services and organizations that require a physical ID, Interac Verified allows you to bypass an in person visit and digitally verify yourself. This could include using your banking credentials to help sign-in to access your tax information or help apply for a business grant.
Below are some ways that Interac Verified could be used in the future in various industries.
Banking and Finance: Learn here
Retail: Learn here
Real Estate: Learn here
FAQs and more info about digital verification in Canada
Do you have additional questions about digital verification solutions and how they can help transform the way you interact digitally? See below for answers to a few common questions.
Are digital verification solutions coming to Canada?
Many Canadians already use digital verification solutions. Small business owners may use Interac sign-in service to verify themselves to help apply for grants, shoppers may use Interac verification service to verify retail memberships online and Canadians may use Interac sign-in service when signing in to check their tax information.
Interac and other organizations are working to expand the convenience and security of digital verification across Canada.
How do I sign up for digital verification solutions?
Today, businesses and government services are onboarding verification solutions such as Interac sign-in service to make digital services more convenient and easier to access. You may be notified of ways to use your existing accounts — your financial institution credentials, for example — when signing into or accessing digital services. Stay on the lookout for the Interac Verified logo when accessing participating government or business services digitally.
Will it be mandatory to use digital verification solutions?
We believe choice is imperative when it comes to interacting online or in-person. Adding digital verification and authentication options to previously analog-only services provides convenient and easy to use options for businesses and governments to empower consumers with choice in how they interact. Interac services will operate alongside traditional methods of authentication to give Canadians a digital option and more choice in whether and how they participate in the digital economy.
