SecureKey Technologies Inc. announced the launch of SecureKey Concierge, a Credential Broker Service that enables Canadians to use their bank authentication credentials to access online services from the Government of Canada.

Three of Canada’s largest banks, BMO Financial Group, Scotiabank, and TD Bank Group are the initial Trusted Sign-In Partners, with other financial institutions expected to follow in the coming months.

The new service is part of the Government of Canada’s Cyber Authentication Renewal initiative. No passwords or personal information are exchanged. Trusted Sign-In Partners won’t know which government service is being accessed and the government won’t know which Trusted Sign-In Partner is being used. SecureKey Concierge is subject to the Privacy Act and the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act.

Consumers are managing dozens, sometimes hundreds, of increasingly complex login IDs, and using them interchangeably with many online services, actually increasing their risk and exposure to damaging online attacks.

SecureKey Concierge mitigates these risks by using existing credentials that consumers have and use frequently from their banks, which actively manages and monitors security for their customers far beyond other conventional providers of online credentials. It also forms the basis for a broader ecosystem for other governments and public and private sector organizations that could benefit from shared authentication by Trusted Sign-In Partners.

Many Government of Canada departments have already implemented SecureKey Concierge, enabling citizens to use Trusted Sign-In Partners to access federal government services online.