Is it necessary to show NI number in profile?

As this is validated during ID verification and isn’t something that changes it doesn’t seem to be necessary to display this.

Combined with the other info in your profile this could potentially be an ID fraud dream.

Is there a use case I’m not thinking of where a user would need easy access to this to use the app?

The risk of that information being seen or taken from the app seems quite low, and the other information (address, email, and name) are probably more valuable.

But, I do agree with the question of it being there at all, if its not really needed for anything in the app, then removing it might make more room for more important information. But I don’t think its a huge issue.

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But just to be on the safe side, it should be removed. Once your details are verified I don’t see the need of that being displayed anywhere online.

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Mine isn’t on my profile? Am I blind or…?

On iOS it should be on the profile screen underneath Nationality.

Not for me. Is that an ISA only thing? I don’t have an ISA but I’m pretty sure Freetrade asked for my NI number when signing up to the basic account.

No idea but Freetrade do ask your nationality before the account selection screen on signup according to this user journey.

Thanks for the really helpful feedback here. I am going to discuss this with the team.

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To be honest, there shouldn’t be any NI number requirement to open the GIA. In fact few of my friends challenged me on why FT needs it when other platforms are not asking . Of course for ISA it is must.

The reason we collect it is that the regulator requires it from us. The FCA requires us to report to them the customer’s national identifier for any trades we execute (this is the same for all European stockbrokers), both for GIAs and ISAs. In the case of UK nationals, the required identifier is the NI number. This is in addition to the NI requirement for ISAs.

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@tinku333 As Dan mentioned, it is usually required. Good old HMRC keep track of your gains that way for tax purposes, so it’s actually more relevant to a GIA than an ISA. In fact, who ever your friends are using as a broker, are almost definitely not regulated if they are not taking NI numbers (or they signed up to the broker many years ago) .

On the visibility of NI on freetrade, I fall on the side that it should be in a slightly less readily accessible area.

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I think it’s also very relevant to an ISA as they have to be able to check you aren’t adding £20K each to 5 different ISA providers

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Thank you @dan.t , @Antidev for clarification. You have got valid points and now have got some solid counter arguments to support FT’s requirement :slight_smile: with them

I don’t think anyone here is disputing Freetrade’s need to get the info, but what is disputed is the need to show this on your profile.

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Here’s a post from someone here disputing the Freetrade’s need to get the info (albeit now better informed).

Why does it need to be shown? You need it for regulatory reasons but it doesn’t need to be shown.

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Hi Kevyn, we are looking into removing it. We’ll revert here once that discussion has concluded.

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Being able to update the address or the the email on the profile page would be good I believe

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NI on the profile has actually been very useful for me since I can easily get to it when it’s needed for other applications… I’d prefer if it stayed on iOS

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Probably better to use something like Lastpass for that if you need to reference it

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