Banks overwhelmingly continue to operate their digital current account and mortgage application processes completely separately, shows research from FICO.

Currently, 72 per cent of UK banks use digital tools to verify identity for current accounts but just 36 per cent use the same process for any mortgage business. Meanwhile, a minority – 7 per cent – have a fully integrated process.

FICO says that a lack of integration means that only 29 per cent of information is shared across channels and situations such as having to download another app or scan and email documents means that 32 per cent of UK customers are likely to abandon application processes.

Over half – 54 per cent – of UK banks say that authentication of customers is an on-going concern.

Gaps in data are an issue, too a third of banks say they have contact data for less than 70 per cent of their customers.

FICO senior director of director of identity fraud marketing Sarah Rutherford says: “As digital interaction is accelerated by the impact of Covid-19, it exposes the weaknesses inherent in using identity verification processes that were not intended for digital channels.

“The benefits of moving to a single identity infrastructure across all channels and product lines should be assessed as a matter of priority.

“Banks that still rely on processes first developed for branches will be disadvantaged.”