The new individual digital certificate is available free of charge to every financial adviser in the UK, and may now be used to access company extranets.
Fourteen other major life companies are also in the process of implementing the digital certificates, including Standard Life, AXA and Friends Provident, as well as intermediary portals such as The Exchange and Assureweb.
UNIPASS, which has been created by Origo, the UK’s financial services industry standards body, aims to save providers and IFAs time and money by eradicating the need for multiple passwords and user names. Funded by providers, UNIPASS gives IFAs a secure, unique online identity. By adopting UNIPASS, IFAs can simply access all the services they use on the internet with the use of one, simple ‘digital key’.
Sandy Neilson, CEO of Origo, commented: “Internet security and ease of access are the cornerstones of successful e-commerce. Standards are vital in enabling everyone involved in the UK’s financial services arena to fully embrace the web as a valuable communications channel. Now we have 17 providers and portals committed to adopting the system.”
Prudential, Skandia and Norwich Union have been piloting the certificates with IFAs for the past few months. This has enabled them to receive valuable feedback from IFAs and ensure the system is a success. Prudential currently has 8,000 individuals using its own digital certificates and aims to migrate all these users to UNIPASS as they approach their renewal date.
