Digital Identity & Data-Sharing
Digital identity and data sharing are foundational components of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), and increasingly, of the financial systems built on top of it.
As more economies embed digital ID, consent-based data flows and open finance frameworks into their infrastructure, they are expanding access to services, reducing friction and enabling new models of financial participation. These are not technical details at the margins of financial regulation — they are core to how inclusion, competition and innovation are structured and governed.
“DPI is not only enabling digital access, but also reshaping how trust, control and inclusion are governed in financial systems.”
Bryan Zhang, Executive Chair of Fii, Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance
The challenge
Digital identity and data sharing sit at the intersection of multiple regulatory domains — financial supervision, data protection, competition and telecommunications — yet no single authority has full oversight. In most jurisdictions, these mandates were designed independently, with different objectives, risk frameworks and enforcement cultures. While coordination efforts exist, they tend to be ad hoc and issue-driven rather than embedded in institutional design.
As digital ID systems scale and data-sharing frameworks expand — from e-KYC to open banking and beyond — these gaps become more consequential. Fragmented oversight creates compliance uncertainty for regulated entities and innovators alike, weakens consumer protection and introduces systemic vulnerabilities that no single regulator is positioned to address alone. The challenge is not simply technical design, but institutional architecture: how do regulators with overlapping but distinct mandates develop the shared frameworks and working relationships these systems require?
Opportunities
Stronger coordination across financial supervisors, data protection authorities, competition regulators and telecoms authorities creates the foundation for much more than better oversight. It unlocks the conditions for open finance to function effectively, for digital identity ecosystems to earn public trust, and for cross-border interoperability to become viable at scale. It also enables policymakers, the private sector and civil society to engage with a coherent regulatory environment rather than navigate conflicting signals from multiple authorities.
The governance choices made as these systems scale will shape market structures, institutional capabilities and the broader digital economy for years to come. There is a real opportunity to move from fragmented oversight to coordinated frameworks that advance both innovation and inclusion.
“Making digital identity and data sharing systems work, at scale and for the people who need them most, requires more than sound technical design. It demands institutional relationships, shared frameworks and cross-regulatory coordination that many governance systems are still developing the capacity to deliver.”
Pavle Avramovic, Director of Research & Policy, Fii
Our work
Fii works across the full spectrum of digital identity and data sharing, generating empirical evidence, building analytical tools and developing practical frameworks for regulators and policymakers navigating these challenges.
Our work on digital identity focuses on how governance models, regulatory design and institutional capacity shape the development of trusted, inclusive identity systems. Through the Cambridge DPI Regulatory Programme: Digital Identity, a global initiative supported by the Gates Foundation and delivered in collaboration with the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, we are building regulatory capacity across eight countries in Africa and Asia, helping authorities address e-KYC governance, interoperability and adoption challenges in context.
On open banking and open finance, we combine leading global research on how data-sharing frameworks are designed and implemented with direct technical assistance to countries developing or reforming their frameworks. Our work examines the regulatory conditions that determine how open finance can deliver on its potential and support authorities in translating empirical evidence into practical policy.
Our work on cross-regulatory coordination focuses particularly on the institutional interface between financial regulatory authorities and data protection authorities — two bodies whose mandates increasingly overlap as financial services become more data-intensive. We examine where closer collaboration creates value and where misalignment creates systemic risk or compliance gaps, with the aim of developing coordination mechanisms and frameworks that help regulators operate coherently across domains.
Speak with an expert
If you’re interested in engaging with us in this area, please reach out to Pavle Avramovic, Director of Research & Policy.
