Your future digital identity
By: Sachin Rajat Sharma
Tags: Digital Identity, Fintech, Banking, Blockchain, Singapore

Alver Vark steps out of the Singapore Airlines flight onto Changi Airport terminal 7.He places his NFC enabled passport at one of the multiple auto-immigration kiosks and walks past the single immigration officer who flashes a welcoming smile. His passport scan at the airport authorises the block-chain enabled ‘Unified human identity network’ ,created by OCED countries to share his identity information with multiple Singapore service providers.

On his way out he stops at the TelcoSing kiosk to pick up his 6G micro sim that has been pre-ordered and activated as soon as his passport was presented at the airport. During the taxi ride to the hotel he peers into the retina scanner of his iPhone X and confirms his identity to the StraitsBank mobile app that sets up his current account and issues his digital debit card. A quick exchange of a few bitcoins into his new Singapore Dollar current account and he is now ready use Apple Pay in the local currency at his hotel’s check in counter. For a moment he thinks about setting up a digital credit card as well, but that can wait till the next day when he starts his new job as the digital marketing head of orchardonline.com the nation’s largest e-tailer.

The imaginary state of future commerce may well be a reality in 10 years time, however is the current fintech infrastructure evolving fast enough?

This article examines the thematic area of infrastructure for the trend of adoption of digital identity across governments and industries.

The enablers

The confluence of the ‘smart’ chip card and the PKI (public key infrastructure) cryptography techniques is arguably the foundation stone for the adoption of the digital identity infrastructure.

Further, advancement of biometrics has added an additional set of identity data to be captured in the digital ID information. Unalterable physical characteristics such as retina, fingerprints , voice patterns, facial features provide a strong authentication mechanism for personal identity. Miniaturization of biometric recognition hardware such as fingerprint and iris scanners into mobile phones and laptop computers have opened the door for use cases across service providers. From authorising payment transactions to updating your personal information a vast variety of interactions can be digitally confirmed without the friction of physical signatures or the need to remember passwords.

Adoption

On last count an estimated 50 countries(1) across the globe had issued digital identity cards with varied degrees of success. The notable achievement of 1.05 billion(2) digital identity card issued by the government of India as of September 2016 stands out as an encouraging example for countries to follow. While there is an increasing trend of digital ID adoption, the use has largely been limited to accessing government services, and KYC for telecom and banking products.

The next step would be a leap to the ‘mobile ID’ form factor which some countries such as Norway, Finland and Estonia have taken the lead on. With an estimated 4.6 billion(3) mobile phone users by the end of 2016 a mobile digital ID program will be the right choice for a rapid adoption across populations and private sector use cases to develop

Confluence

So are the governments doing enough? Is the world moving towards a intra-country standard of digital identity or a global one? While the vast majority of the global population will be satisfied by digital identity coverage within the political borders, it will be a case of political myopia if the world does not agree on a global standard.

Thankfully initiatives such ID4D(4) by the World Bank group are attempting to provide a global framework for citizens identity adoption. It will be up to the governments and regulators to take advantages of these frameworks and develop a globally recogniseable identity protocol.

Blockchain technology is another potential enabler for a global digital identity infrastructure. In recent times up to twelve private fintech(5) initiatives have leveraged this technology for a digital identity services.

In conclusion the infrastructure for digital identity is rapidly advancing into a better future. The next two to five years will define if Alver Vark really has that seamless integration into his new job in his new country.

References

1. http://www.gemalto.com/govt/identity/2016-national-id-card-trends

2. https://portal.uidai.gov.in/uidwebportal/dashboard.do

3. https://www.statista.com/statistics/274774/forecast-of-mobile-phone-users-worldwide/

4. http://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/id4d

5. https://letstalkpayments.com/12-companies-leveraging-blockchain-for-identification-and-authentication/