In 2009, members of several government organisations and four not-for-profit organisations (BCS, IET, RUSI and EURIM) agreed that the UK National Identity Scheme’s focus on the citizen and government left a large gap with regard to identity management in regulated UK industry sectors.
After a period of discussion and analysis, considering several options, the not-for-profit organisations’ members concluded that a UK self-regulating body for federated trust across regulated industries was required to provide the collaborative governance mechanisms necessary to fill the gap and provide a focus for the rapid development of federated trust within and across regulated industry sectors in the UK, working closely with the major companies in each sector.
Major companies would collaborate to direct the BBFA to meet their industries’ common needs, encouraging membership from their supply chains and approving service and product providers to implement federated trust mechanisms that companies could use internally and externally to conduct secure collaboration with customers, suppliers, partners and government organisations, nationally and internationally.