Global
Research carried out by Opinium for Jumio has found that 57 percent say they have to use their digital identity ‘constantly’ or ‘often’ to access their online accounts.
Singapore has the highest level of digital identity use (70 percent), compared to the US (52 percent) and Mexico (55 percent), with the UK trailing on 50 percent.
More than two-thirds of consumers (68 percent) think it’s important to use a digital identity to prove who they say they are when using a financial service online, closely followed by healthcare providers (52 percent) and social media sites (42 percent). While all markets are agreed that financial services is the most important sector for robust identity verification, 49 percent of consumers in Mexico believe it is an important step when interacting with sharing economy brands. In the UK 40 percent of consumers believe it should be required when shopping online.
As well as preventing fraud and identity theft, 83 percent think that it’s important for social media sites to verify identities so that they can hold users accountable for online hate speech and comments.
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwean founded blockchain start-up, FlexID Technologies (formerly FlexFinTx), has signed a Simple Agreement For Equity (SAFE) with the Algorand Foundation, to further develop and scale their Self Sovereign Identity (SSI) platform. The startup strives to make its decentralized digital identity network available in emerging markets where over one billion people are thought to lack formal identification.
The funding from Algorand Foundation comes under the Impact category, which identified FlexID as a necessary catalyst for global financial inclusion. Securing the funding deal is a first for the Zimbabwean start-up ecosystem. This funding support follows Flex ID’s Algorand Foundation Development Award which the team were awarded in 2020.
Global
The digital identity market size is expected to grow from $20.55 billion in 2021 to $23.83 billion in 2022 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.98 percent. According to ‘Digital Identity Global Market Report 2022 – Market Size, Trends, And Global Forecast 2022-2026’ from The Business Research Company, the global digital identity market size is expected to reach $43.16 billion in 2026 at a CAGR of 16.01 percent. An increase in instances of identity-related fraud and data breaches is contributing to the growth of the digital identity market.
United Kingdom
Digital identity vendor Paycasso has rebranded to Xydus. It also announced that 2021 saw sales soar by 6x, setting a new record. Those sales were led by a number of deals with large corporate clients.
Russell King, CEO, Xydus, commented: “Recent years have seen massive disruption to the working patterns and online behaviours of billions of consumers and employers, making Xydus more relevant than ever. A decade ago, faced with a digitally expanding world, we could not think of a much bigger challenge to address than core identity.
“It is this consistent focus in addressing the challenges in identity management which is now paying dividends for Xydus. This last year’s spectacular sales growth reflects how the need to solve identity issues for this expansive world is only going to grow.”
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Xydus clients include PWC, EY, TransUnion, Equifax, Philip Morris International, Irish Life and the National Health Service.
United Arab Emirates
UAE-based cybersecurity and identity consultancy ISnSC has developed a system for rapidly deploying an entire identity system in days, whether at the national level or for disaster or humanitarian response.
Biometric Update reports that ‘Real ID’ works offline and identity documents can be printed on regular paper by an individual or organisation. It can also work as an image on a mobile phone screen.
No specific infrastructure is required and any inquirer can accept, validate and exchange ID information, contact-free.
Togo
The West African nation of Togo is considering building a stronger digital ID ecosystem for identification and social protection data exchanges that would enable more timely and appropriate responses to unforeseen problems, following the success of its digital cash-transfer response to COVID, indicates a report by the Rockefeller Foundation, as per Biometric Update.
‘Co-Develop: Digital Public Infrastructure for an Equitable Recovery,’ uses Togo as an example of how building solid Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) can help governments in deepening inclusion and ensuring reliant and robust responses to challenges of the future.
The report says that the country, which took advantage of its existing DPI to execute a government-to-person cash transfer programme in the heat of the COVID pandemic, is now looking to build more resilience into its digital ID scheme to tackle any future emergencies.
Efforts by Togo to build on its digital ID ecosystem have been underway since 2020. In 2021, it concluded a deal for the implementation of a foundational digital ID platform using MOSIP.
South Africa
South Africa’s Home Affairs Department has unveiled plans for the imminent roll-out of a biometric self-service system to enable citizens to easily obtain digital IDs, passports and other identity documentation.
According to the department’s deputy minister Njabulo Nzuza, the move is being planned for the 2022/2023 fiscal year. Nzuza said putting the kiosks in place is will smoothen the process of how these ID documents are obtained, and it will also allow citizens to easily reprint civil status documents such as birth, marriage and death certificates.
The technology provider for the kiosks has not been made public, but South Africa-based NEC XON has partnered with Wavetec subsidiary Azimut to develop biometric self-service kiosks for processes requiring KYC checks, with a multi-modal version launched earlier in 2022.
