A landmark blueprint was published by The City of London Corporation to overhaul how identity is verified and shared across the UK economy, unveiling plans for a Digital Verification Orchestrator that could unlock at least £5 billion in economic benefits over the next five years.
Earlier this year, the blueprint was developed alongside government observers, regulators including the Financial Conduct Authority, global law firm Hogan Lovells, and consultancies EY and Collectively Better.
Digital verification will be positioned not merely as a background tool, but as critical, sovereign digital infrastructure essential for national economic resilience. And replacing today’s fragmented verification landscape, the model aims to streamline processes, strengthen UK data sovereignty, and protect against increasingly sophisticated, AI-enabled fraud.
The report projects at least £5 billion in economic value by 2031, driven by reducing fraud loss through multi-modal checks and continuous verification. The figure can also be reached with £1.8 billion in value generated from a secure Digital Verification Service, whilst balancing big operational cost savings through reduced compliance overheads and automated Know Your Customer workflows.
“Trusted digital verification is now critical infrastructure for the UK economy,” said Chris Hayward, Policy Chairman of the City of London Corporation. “At a time of rising fraud, rapid technological change and increasing geopolitical uncertainty, the need for secure, reliable identity verification has never been greater… We now need to move from blueprint to delivery to create a safer, faster and more trusted digital future for the UK.”
The DVO connects identity data providers, such as banks, utilities, and government bodies, with relying parties needing to verify customers. Crucially, it never acts as a centralised database for personal information. Instead, it manages metadata, ensures data syntax quality, preserves data integrity in transit, and maintains immutable, real-time audit trails with explicit user consent.
Under the framework, consumers and businesses can verify their identity once and seamlessly reuse those credentials across multiple services including, KYC and customer onboarding, when applying for loans, and fraud prevention.
Sir Ron Kalifa, Vice-Chair of Brookfield and author of the Kalifa Review of UK FinTech, highlighted the strategic importance of the launch: “Trust is becoming the UK’s next critical infrastructure. As AI accelerates and fraud becomes more sophisticated, secure digital verification will be as important to the digital economy as transport networks and energy systems are to the physical economy.”
The DVO Initiative is calling for immediate consultation from the industry, urging financial institutions, tech providers, and regulators to guide the transition from design to practical delivery over the next 9 to 12 months. Key recommendations include launching time-bound live pilots, clarifying how verifiable credentials operate within existing anti-money laundering regulations such as Regulation 28, and embedding DVO capabilities directly into the DSIT framework.
Ezechi Britton MBE, Chair of the DVO Initiative, said: “The Digital Verification Orchestrator is about moving from ambition to delivery… This blueprint shows how we can reduce duplication, tackle fraud and make verified data easier to reuse safely across financial services.”
