Portugal
UK-based biometric identity solutions provider iProov and Portuguese digital identity verification firm Biometrid are partnering to deliver digital identity verification solutions across Portugal and other international regions.
This collaboration will combine iProov’s facial biometric solutions with Biometrid’s identity orchestration platform, offering organisations across a range of sectors, including government and financial services, the ability to combat fraud and enhance user experience.
Biometrid’s platform offers a suite of identity verification services, including document validation, facial comparison, and videoconferencing. By integrating iProov’s Express Liveness and Dynamic Liveness solutions, Biometrid will strengthen its platform with genuine presence assurance, ensuring that a user is the right person, a real person, and authenticating in real-time. This will help to protect against deepfakes, sophisticated spoofing attacks, and other emerging threats.
Europe
Identity verification platform provider IDnow has announced IDnow Trust Services AB, a certified Qualified Trust Service Provider (QTSP) under EU Regulation 910/2014 (eIDAS). Founded as a joint venture in Stockholm in early 2024 between IDnow and ESYSCO, a system integrator and technology provider, the company offers qualified trust services, such as electronic signatures, time stamps, and seals, that combine security, compliance, and user convenience.
As a recognised QTSP in the EU by the Swedish supervisory body Post-och telestyrelsen (PTS), IDnow Trust Services AB will issue, validate, and manage electronic certificates and time stamps; capture additional information, such as qualified time; hold identification evidence data, and perform certificate revocation, while complying as a Certificate Authority (CA). The QTSP provides assurance of the existence of specific electronic data at a specific time, such as proof that documents have been submitted for processing.
One of the features that IDnow Trust Services AB will immediately enable for IDnow’s customers is SMS-free signing. This certified capability simplifies the signing process, eliminating the requirement of One-Time Password (OTP) codes and driving higher conversion rates. IDnow Trust Services AB is the first QTSP that will allow this new user authentication process.
India
Veriff has introduced FaceBlock, which it said has been designed as a proactive defence against the growing use of synthetic identities and manipulated digital images in online fraud. Integrated into Veriff’s self-serve product, FaceBlock leverages AI to recognise and flag faces that appear in multiple profiles, which the company claims should help prevent fraudsters from creating multiple fake accounts using the same images.
Veriff has also introduced Aadhaar Verification as an optional add-on feature, catering specifically to the Indian market. The add-on will support businesses in India by enabling identity checks in compliance with the country’s ID regulations, in a bid to help meet Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) requirements.
Ireland
The Irish Department of Justice has announced that it selected ID-Pal’s solutions to support digital identity verification in immigration service renewal procedures.
Following the introduction of its Digital Contact Centre, the Irish Department of Justice chose to implement ID-Pal’s digital identity verification to further modernise its online renewals system.
This move focuses on allowing all Irish immigration permission renewals to be processed online via an Immigration Service Delivery (ISD) portal, which in turn mitigates the need for in-person visits to Garda Stations. As of 4 November 2024, applicants across the region can benefit from a digitalised system for renewing their immigration permissions. Before this announcement, only residents of Dublin, Kildare, Meath, Wicklow, Cork, and Limerick could renew their permissions online.
Namibia
Namibia is working with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to establish legal identity systems, for all its citizens to have verifiable identities.
The initiative follows collaboration between UNDP Namibia and local stakeholders, including the Ministry of Home Affairs, Immigration, Safety and Security, to address gaps in the country’s identity governance framework. According to a recent UNDP blog, the collaborative approach seeks to ensure that Namibia’s legal identity governance system is not only comprehensive but also accessible across socio-economic divides.
North Macedonia
North Macedonia has launched a mobile app that will host the country’s digital identity wallet, allowing citizens to store an electronic version of their ID cards and driver’s licences.
The ELI app will allow users to identify themselves while using digital services. It will also be connected to government services portal.gov.mk which is preparing for a redesign, according to Deputy Minister for Digital Transformation Radoslav Nastasijevic Vardziski.
The ELI app is developed through the Digital Europe Programme (DIGITAL), which provides strategic funding for introducing technology into the economy and public administration, media outlet Sloboden Pečat reports.
United States
Hundreds of billions of dollars in unclaimed federal assistance each year could reach their intended recipients if the US government were to completely transition to a federal digital ID for at least some public welfare and other benefits, according to a new white paper from the non-profit think tank FREOPP.
Biometric Update reported a July 2023 Office of Management and Budget (OMB) report that stated that “every year more than $140 billion in government benefits that Congress has authorised goes unclaimed—including tax credits for working families, health insurance coverage for low-income adults and children, unemployment benefits, and disability supports … in part due to the administrative burdens associated with applying for them.”
“Fully enrolling all eligible Americans in all of the main social welfare programs could move 15 million people, including five million children, out of poverty,” says the white paper, Improving Access to—and Integrity of—Federal Benefits Using Digital ID Technology.
Denmark
IN Groupe and Nets, part of Nexi Group, have officially closed the sale of Nets’ eID business to IN Groupe, following a deal signed in November 2023. IN Groupe is now responsible for the operations and further development of the Danish digital identity service MitID and other related eID services.
MitID will remain formally owned by the MitID partnership, which consists of the Danish Agency for Digital Government (Digitaliseringsstyrelsen) on behalf of the Danish state and Finance Denmark (Finans Danmark) on behalf of the Danish banks.
Global
Google plans to make its digital wallet available to children whose parents or guardians use the Family Link app so they can perform tap-to-pay transactions through NFC and biometrics.
The version of Google Wallet for children will be able to store gift cards, event tickets and contactless payment cards, according to Android Police. Parents would have to approve the addition of each credential to the digital wallet, and can monitor payments and remove cards they have previously approved. It will not be able to store digital IDs or support online purchases.
Authentication is performed with a PIN or password, or using fingerprint or face biometrics.
South Africa
South Africa plans to create unique identities for its citizens and issue instant visas as it digitises its economy.
The South African Revenue Service, the Reserve Bank and the department of home affairs are reportedly working towards a unique digital identity.
Malta
Malta has presented its new budget for the year 2025,which includes investments in digital identity.
As part of its 2025 budget, the country is issuing a tender for a digital identity wallet next year, Silvio Schembri, Minister for the Economy, Enterprise and Strategic Projects, has announced. The digital ID app will allow users to access government services through a single app.
The government is also planning to cut bureaucracy with a central data repository, allowing data sharing across government agencies through secure electronic wallets. The wallets will rely on AI, optical character recognition (OCR) and blockchain technology.
The system will eventually extend to private sector due diligence such as banks and notaries, The Times of Malta reports.
Global
Two of the largest global suppliers of airport biometrics and traveller digital identities, SITA and Idemia Public Security, are collaborating on a decentralised trust network to increase interoperability in the sector with what they refer to as a ‘Digital Travel Ecosystem.’
The rapid adoption of biometrics and digital identities by governments, airports and airlines has led to challenges in consistency, trust and security, the partners say.
The Digital Travel Ecosystem is intended to ensure that travellers’ digital identities are recognised and trusted. The project will bring together identity management market players to create an open, secure and interoperable framework to allow digital identities to be used without any integration between the issuer and verifier, according to an announcement.
