Refinitiv, one of the world’s largest providers of financial markets data and risk-management solutions, plans to bring its new ‘digital identity solutions’ to the Indian market in a year or two, said a top visiting official.

Digital identity solutions are now being developed, and Refinitiv plans to take it global, besides introducing it to the Indian market, Phil Cotter, Managing Director-Risk, Refinitiv, told BusinessLine .

“Confirming somebody’s identity in a digital banking system environment is quite challenging, especially when we are operating in a digital world. We believe we can help provide more robust digital identity solutions. We believe we can help Indian banks in meeting challenges around know-your-customer (KYC) norms,” said Cotter.

‘A long-term market’

Describing India as an “important long-term market” for Refinitiv, Cotter said the firm will continue to invest in India for supporting its customers. “India is a dynamic economy, which is expected to keep growing. From a risk perspective, our main focus is to help our customers achieve compliance with financial crime regulations and fight financial crime,” he said.

Refinitiv is a recently-created corporation that now holds Thomson Reuters Financial & Risk (F&R) business as a spin-off from Thomson Reuters. Blackstone-led consortium holds 55 per cent equity in Refinitiv, and the balance 45 per cent is with Thomson Reuters.

From October 1, the Thomson Reuters Financial & Risk (F&R) business is known as Refinitiv globally, following the closure of the strategic partnership transaction between Thomson Reuters and Blackstone. In India, the transaction is expected to conclude mid-2019.

Cotter said that Refinitiv will look at investing more in content coverage, Artificial Intelligence and analytics, and put more resources behind developing solutions around risk management and fighting financial crimes.

“Globally what we see is that criminals have no respect for local boundaries, and that’s creating challenges for countries. As we digitise economies, the threat of cyber crime and stealing of digital identity are on the rise. We believe we can help Indian banks and fintechs face challenges of cyber crimes, and help improve their compliance to financial crime regulations,” he said.

Cotter, who was in the Capital to meet a top Government official, is understood to have discussed and stressed on the need for public-private data partnerships in handling financial crimes. Refinitiv may also be open to the idea of working with government intelligence agencies in India to help tackle financial crimes.

“At Refinitiv, we feel that private and public sector should find more ways of cooperating with each other to fight financial crime,” he said.

Refinitiv is already working with several fintechs around the world to help them embed some of its risk intelligence solutions, said Cotter. He sees increased potential for Refinitiv in collaborating with fintechs in India now that the Indian government is working to harness the power of fintech to improve the pace of digitisation.

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