Press Releases

The Better Identity Coalition Expands with Four New Members

WASHINGTON – The Better Identity Coalition, an organization focused on developing and advancing consensus-driven, cross-sector policy initiatives that promote the development and adoption of better solutions for identity verification and authentication, today announced that four firms have joined the Coalition as new members. 

Discover, Quicken Loans, Equifax and Experian have each joined the Coalition over the last few weeks.  In total, the Coalition now has 18 members from sectors including: financial services, health care, technology, fintech, payments, and security.

“The Policy Blueprint the Coalition released this past July has garnered excellent reception from leaders in the both the public and private sectors,” said Jeremy Grant, Coordinator of the Better Identity Coalition.  “Today’s announcement of four new members is a testament to the strength of the Coalition’s ideas, as well as the increasing importance leading firms in different sectors are placing on the idea of ‘Better Identity’ solutions.”

Launched in February 2018, the Better Identity Coalition has brought together leading firms to create and advance a set of consensus policy recommendations to address the inadequacies of legacy identity solutions— with a focus on solutions that empower consumers to protect and assert their identity online.

“Ongoing collaborative development is critical to improving identity management for consumers. As a result, we look forward to partnering with the other members of the Better Identity Coalition to achieve the most advanced solutions in identity authentication and verification.  Working together on policy initiatives across the public and private sectors is one example of how we are committed to delivering strong safeguards and innovations that better serve and protect our customers, business partners, and communities.”

  • Brian Hughes, Executive Vice President and Chief Risk Officer, Discover Financial Services

“Equifax has been off to a strong start in its transformation journey, especially with regard to enhancing our identity protection and authentication capabilities – but we’re eager to do more.  One of our commitments to consumers, our customers and to Congress was to play a meaningful role in the conversation about finding a more dynamic solution to outdated, static identifiers like the Social Security Number. We’re pleased to partner with the Coalition in working toward a common goal of fostering meaningful change in the identity space that will ultimately help to keep consumer data more secure than ever.”

  • Jamil Farshchi, Chief Information Security Officer, Equifax

“Our primary goal is to help clients and partners minimize fraud, while providing a positive and frictionless consumer experience. In fact, one of our primary areas of focus is tackling the pernicious crime of synthetic identity fraud. We believe the best way forward is to relentlessly innovate on new authentication methods in collaboration with clients, industry associations and new market entrants. Experian joined the Better Identity Coalition so we can do exactly that.” 

  • Kathleen Peters, Senior Vice President of Fraud and ID, Experian

Tomorrow, November 2nd – the “33rd day of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month” – the Coalition will come together for a joint event with the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) and the FIDO Alliance to hold a policy forum examining the importance of better identity and authentication solutions to protecting cybersecurity, as well as discussing what roles both government and industry should take to improve the state of secure identity solutions in 2019.  More information on the event is at https://connect.venable.com/v/4j7v1pp5

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The Better Identity Coalition is an organization of leading businesses focused on developing and advancing consensus-driven, cross-sector policy initiatives that promote the development and adoption of better solutions for identity verification and authentication. The coalition was launched in February 2018 by the Center for Cybersecurity Policy and Law, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting education and collaboration with policymakers on policies related to cybersecurity.

Coalition members include Aetna, Bank of America, Capital One, Citigroup, Discover, Equifax, Experian, IDEMIA, JPMorgan Chase, Kabbage, Mastercard, Onfido, PNC Bank, Quicken Loans, Symantec, US Bank, Visa and Wells Fargo.

Doug Gardner