What is Trust Framework Infrastructure? The Essential Guide

Why Trust Matters in a Digital World

Every day, data moves between data providers, apps, businesses and public services. That movement can unlock huge benefits – better services, faster onboarding, personalised products and more competition. But it can also introduce risk.

For data sharing to work safely, four groups need to trust one another:

Consumers

Individuals whose behaviours have generated the data, e.g. credit history, must be confident their information is only shared with trusted, authorised parties – and only when they give consent.

Data Providers

Banks, utilities, telcos, insurers, government bodies and others who hold data, need a secure, reliable way to confirm the legitimacy of who is requesting access.

Data Receivers

Product or service providers, e.g. third-party providers (TPPs), with the consumers permission to request access to data must prove they are legitimate, accredited and secure.

Ecosystem controller

Policy makers, regulators, and other ecosystem controllers set the rules, and need assurance that the ecosystem operates safely, consistently and transparently.

Without technical infrastructure to apply the Trust Framework, every organisation would need to create individual bilateral trust relationships with each other – a slow, costly and inconsistent process.

This is why Trust Framework technology exists.

What is a Trust Framework?

A Trust Framework is an agreed set of rules, standards, processes and behaviours that allow participating organisations to trust each other so they can safely share data and services.

The rules cover:

• Who is allowed to participate in the ecosystem
• What data are they allowed to access, and in what circumstances
• What data and API standards apply

The technology provides a means to:

• Proving participant identity
• Discovering the APIs
• Authorising API calls
• Revoking or suspending participation if something goes wrong

In simple terms:

A Trust Framework creates ecosystem rules to ensure data access is straightforward, secure, authorised and appropriate. Trust Framework Technology implements this and provides technical certainty the rules have been applied. 

The Core Components of Trust Framework Technology

1. Governance & Accreditation

Rules, processes and oversight defining who can join and what obligations they must meet.

2. Identity & Registration

A way for each participant to prove who they are, using validated organisational information.

3. Certificates & Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)

Digital certificates and public keys allow participants to securely authenticate each other and authorise data exchange.

4. Live Directory of Accredited Participants

A searchable centralised directory of participants, their permissions and details of where and how to call their published APIs. This centralised trust enables decentralised sharing of data directly between participants.

5. API Discovery & Metadata

Participants publish the APIs they offer – and discover others – with the conditions for successful connection (role, consent) detailed in the metadata.

6. Monitoring, Revocation & Compliance

Ongoing assurance that participants continue meeting the rules, with real-time ability to remove or temporarily suspend a participant if a risk emerges.

Together, these elements form a digital trust ecosystem capable of supporting data sharing at scale – safely, consistently and transparently.

Types of Trust Frameworks

Trust Framework infrastructure appears in several forms, depending on who operates the scheme and what the scheme enables.

1. National or Public Trust Frameworks

Used in government-led initiatives such as Open Banking, Open Finance and other Smart Data schemes, as well as for payments and digital identity verification.

Characteristics:

• Operated or authorised by a regulator or national body
• Provides a public, authoritative directory of ecosystem participants
• Manages certificates and digital identities
• Ensures all data sharing and/or attribute verification follows security and governance standards

These frameworks help entire sectors – or countries – to appropriately and securely access data to generate beneficial consumer outcomes.

2. Private Ecosystems

Industry groups, consortiums or corporations may create a private “circle of trust” for a variety of reasons, including process improvement, risk management, innovation, and revenue generation.

Examples include:

• Industry-led data exchange networks to reduce fraud, optimise supply chains, meet regulatory obligations and more.
• Commercial schemes to create new revenue streams

Participants only need to establish trust once with the Framework owner, rather than with every other participant, removing the need for costly bilateral agreements.

3. Enterprise Trust Frameworks

Large organisations often use Trust Framework principles internally.

Why?

Because data is rarely held in one place. Banks, insurers, payment providers and global corporates operate across multiple business units, jurisdictions and legacy systems.

Enterprise Trust Frameworks:

• Help manage internal APIs
• Establish consistent identity and governance
• Secure communication across business units
• Enable internal innovation on shared architectural foundations

They bring order, security and consistency to complex internal environments.

Benefits of Trust Framework infrastructure

Trust Framework technology simplifies, standardises and secures how organisations interact.

Below is a clear breakdown of the benefits for each audience.

Benefits for Consumers and End Users

Trust Framework infrastructure works behind the scenes, but its impact is felt by individuals and businesses using digital services.

• Safer services – data is only shared between accredited, authenticated participants operating under agreed rules.
• More useful products – secure data access enables more personalised, competitive services (for example in finance, energy or identity).
• Less friction – the consumer benefits from digital access to their 'data-self' rather than having to share manual evidence of, for example, their bank statements.

Benefits for Financial Institutions, FinTechs and Service Providers

• Single sign on, access many – integrate once with the Framework to reach all accredited participants
• Faster onboarding – no need for individual vetting of every partner
• Reduced costs – centralised trust avoids duplicated technical and compliance work
• Assured identity – certificates and directory entries confirm exactly who you are connecting to
• Scalable architecture – supports ecosystem growth without increasing bilateral complexity

Benefits for Policymakers & Regulators

• Applied governance for secure data sharing
• Central visibility of who is in the ecosystem and what their roles and permissions are.
• Real-time revocation to rapidly contain any breaches or cyber risks
• Technical certainty that data sharing is being done appropriately.
• Scalable and interoperable, cross sector and cross border ready

Trust Framework infrastructure gives regulators confidence that a digital market is operating safely – and that innovation doesn’t come at the cost of security.

Trust Frameworks and Open Banking

Open Banking is one of the clearest examples of Trust Frameworks in action.

Without a Trust Framework:

• Every bank would need to individually negotiate trust with every other participant, eg. Third Party Providers (TPP)
• Agreements would be slow, manual and expensive
• Data sharing would be risky and inconsistent

With a Trust Framework:

• Banks and TPPs become accredited once
• Each participant is visible in a live directory
• Certificates and identity are standardised
• Technical trust is automatically established
• Revocation can happen instantly, for anyone, if needed

New national implementations becomes faster and more cost-effective – because Trust Framework technology provides a repeatable, proven foundation.

Zero Trust vs Trust Frameworks

Although the terms sound similar, they refer to two very different concepts.

What is a Zero Trust Framework?

A Zero Trust Framework is an internal cybersecurity model used within organisations.

Its core principle is:

Never trust anything by default – always verify.

It focuses on preventing unauthorised access inside an organisation’s own systems and networks.

Zero Trust includes:

• Strong identity checks
• Device verification
• Access controls
• Continuous monitoring

It is not designed to manage trust between different organisations.

Zero Trust vs Trust Frameworks – The Difference

Both are important – but they solve different problems.

The 7 Pillars of Zero Trust (Explained Simply)

1. User Identity – ensuring only the right people can access the right systems
2. Device Security – checking devices are trusted and compliant
3. Network Access – controlling how users and systems move through the network
4. Application Security – validating access to apps and services
5. Data Protection – controlling how data is accessed and shared internally
6. Visibility & Analytics – monitoring behaviour to detect threats
7. Automation & Orchestration – streamlining responses to risks

How Trust Framework Infrastructure Works Behind the Scenes

While Trust Framework infrastructure feels simple to participants, several technical and governance processes make them possible.

Accreditation

Participants are assessed against defined criteria.

Identity Provisioning

Participants are issued verified digital identities.

Certificates & Keys

These allow secure authentication and encrypted API connections.

Directory Management

Every participant can see who is accredited and what services they expose.

API Discovery

Standardised metadata allows participants to publish and find APIs.

Monitoring & Revocation

If a security or compliance issue arises, participants can be suspended instantly.

This creates the “single connection for multiple access” effect that makes modern data ecosystems scalable, predictable and secure.

Trust Frameworks in the Real World

Trust Framework technology underpins many of the world’s most advanced digital ecosystems and is being used extensively for innovative POCs:

• Open Banking and Open Finance
• Smart Data initiatives
• Digital identity and eIDAS-style systems
• Cross-sector data sharing platforms
• International interoperability pilots

As more economies embrace Smart Data, Trust Framework infrastructure can ensure the ecosystem grows safely, sustainably and efficiently.

Every new implementation benefits from global learnings – reducing cost, time and technical complexity.

The Future of Trust Frameworks

Banking and financial services have arguably led the charge in secure, appropriate, consent-based data sharing ecosystems. But, the next generation of schemes will extend far beyond financial services.

Key trends include:

Cross-Sector Smart Data

Other industries - energy, transport, retail and more - are looking at Trust Framework infrastructure to follow the example of Open Banking. Both within their sectors and federated to provide access to data in other sectors.

Digital Identity Integration

Certified digital identity and digital verification services are increasingly being governed by trust frameworks, and reusable, verified digital identities are becoming a core building block for how participants prove who they are and access multiple services securely.

Global Interoperability

Frameworks will increasingly be designed to work (federate) across borders – enabling trusted data sharing between international markets.

Enterprise and Private Framework Growth

Corporates can adopt and benefit from Trust Framework technology internally, accelerating product development and operational efficiency.

How Raidiam Supports Trust Frameworks

Raidiam has played a significant role in the design, build and operation of Trust Framework infrastructure around the world – particularly in Open Banking, Open Finance and Digital Identity programmes.

Raidiam Connect, our standards-based trust and directory platform, provides the components required to operate a trusted data-sharing ecosystem at national, sector or enterprise scale. Built on globally recognised security and interoperability standards, it helps ensure participants can securely register, authenticate and discover each other – and exchange data safely.

Our experience across multiple markets means we understand how to deliver Trust Frameworks that are secure, scalable and future-proof.

Final Thoughts

Trust Frameworks are becoming one of the most important – and often overlooked – foundations of the digital economy. They make it possible for organisations to confidently share data, collaborate at scale and deliver innovative digital experiences.

Trust Framework infrastructure will increasingly play a critical role in enabling secure, interoperable and consumer-centric ecosystems.

If you’re exploring how Trust Frameworks technology could support your digital ecosystem, our team is always happy to share insights from global implementations.