United Kingdom
The Government Digital Service (GDS) has officially shut down the GOV.UK Verify service. User can no longer use it to create a new identity account, or use an existing identity account to sign in to any government services such as those from HMRC, DVLA or DWP.
In a notice, GDS said the Post Office will delete all user accounts when Verify closes.
Digidentity will delete user accounts after two years of inactivity (unless being used for other Digidentity services). Users can also delete their own account.
After accounts are deleted, Digidentity and Post Office are required to keep some information for up to seven years, it said. This is for audit, counter-fraud and record keeping reasons.
Verify is being replaced by the GOV.UK One Login single sign on service.
Rwanda
Rwanda plans to issue ID cards within three years to allow residents to use such identification documents stored in their phones, and replace the current physical IDs, the Minister of ICT and Innovation has said.
The country has signed a financing agreement for $40 million for the execution of the digital ID system, but that the disbursement of the funds will be done after the law has been enacted pave the way for the project implementation to.
The World Bank-funded project is for five years, with four years remaining. Whereas today a person is entitled to an ID card when they are 16, the new bill enables babies to get digital IDs. Also, biometrics (using fingerprints) will be collected from children aged five years.
Global
Identify fraud is costing roughly a quarter of banks nearly a half a million dollars in losses in the last year, according to a study from Regula and Sapio Research. The crime appears to be hitting smaller banks harder, per Forbes.
Twenty-six percent of banks reported more than 100 identity fraud incidents in the past year, according to Regula’s report, which surveyed 1,069 fraud experts across financial services in Australia, France, Germany, Mexico, Turkey, the UAE, the UK, and the US. Only 17 percent of fintechs reported the same.
Thirty-one percent of banks said the incidents cost them on average $479,000 or more. The costs stemmed from business disruptions (44 percent), penalties and fines (36 percent), and legal expenses (36 percent). Document forgery was the most common type of identity fraud banks reported, with 54 percent of those surveyed saying they’d dealt with incidents involving modified documents in the past year.
Ghana
At the end of 2022, the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) of the Republic of Ghana launched Austrian State Printing Houses’ (OSD) ‘Shelter’ solution as ‘MyNHIS’ application for all citizens.
Offering a simple way to access the national healthcare insurance scheme (NHIS), the MyNHIS app is considered a significant improvement for general health coverage across the nation. “We are cheered by the improvements being made in the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to make access easier. The scheme is currently one of the better-digitalized institutions,” said Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, president of the Republic of Ghana.
The MyNHIS app was developed and implemented by the Austrian-based high-security company Austrian State Printing House (OSD).
Australia
Australians will soon be able to renew their passports online through myGov as the government prepares legislation to enable statutory declarations and deeds to be executed digitally across the country.
Allowing documents to be in electronic form, and to be executed using e-signatures, is expected to save businesses and individuals about $400 million a year, according to Accenture modelling undertaken for a deregulation task force.
A recent audit of the government’s myGov service portal by a taskforce led by former IBM and Telstra chief David Thodey called for the portal to be confirmed as the “go-to” place for people to access services online from the Australian government and communicate with all Australians.
Canada
A study by the Digital Identity & Authentication Council of Canada (DIACC) has revealed that Canadians want more autonomy over their digital identity, privacy and digital wallet data.
The findings of the DIACC Digital Identity Perspectives Research were published this week, providing insights into the attitudes of Canadians towards personal data control and privacy.
The study revealed that caregivers are particularly interested in adopting digital identity solutions to meet their dependents’ needs related to school and health records. That said, most Canadians expressed concerns about their personal information being available online, with identity theft and senior scams high on their list of worries.
Regarding a possible framework for digital identity, respondents indicated a preference for collaboration between the public and private sectors, with the latter seen as slightly more reliable. This belief increased from 65 percent in 2021 to 71 percent in 2022.
Sweden
Swedish digital identity provider BankID is launching a new digital ID card that will serve a similar function and contain the same information and portrait photo as ID documents.
The service is expected to be available before summer, Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter reported.
BankID is Sweden’s most common e-ID. Out of 10.4 million Swedes, around 8.4 million use BankID with the vast majority choosing its mobile version. In 2022, it was used no less than 6.7 billion times, including identifications as well as signing. The company currently has 6,150 businesses, authorities and organizations offering the service for identification.
Users will be able to show the new digital ID while buying alcohol and other goods that require age verification as well as collecting parcels at the post office. However, the ID will not replace traditional identification while traveling within Schengen countries or dealing with the government.
United States
Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero has emphasised the importance of digital identity verification for users in the cryptocurrency space. During a keynote speech at City Week 2023 in London, she highlighted that Congress is considering new legislation to address anonymity and digital identity concerns.
Goldsmith Romero said governments and the industry ned to confront the primary attribute that makes cryptocurrencies attractive for illicit finance: anonymity. She argued that the risks associated with digital assets must be appropriately managed to maintain market integrity, national security, and financial stability, which should never be compromised.
Romero proposed that the industry tackle identity verification challenges to mitigate illicit finance risks in the cryptocurrency market. While public blockchain technology provides transparency and traceability, she noted that mixers and anonymity-enhancing technology significantly increase the risk potential.
