Global
The global Consumer Identity and Access Management market is projected to grow from $9.33 billion in 2024 to $43.55 billion by 2034, according to Polaris Market Research.
The forecast reflects rising demand for technologies that secure customer identities while supporting seamless digital experiences. CIAM platforms are increasingly being adopted as organisations expand digital services, respond to cyber threats and face tighter regulatory requirements, combining high-scale identity management with features such as multi-factor authentication, behavioural analytics and adaptive risk-based controls.
Bermuda
Bermuda is in the final stages of developing a framework for digital identity service providers for the island’s fintech sector.
The Bermuda Fintech Strategy 2026-28 sets out plans for a tiered licensing regime with cybersecurity requirements, defined provider roles and alignment with international standards. Ministers say the framework is intended to support secure and efficient verification processes while helping integrate digital financial services more deeply into the island’s economy.
United Kingdom
The government has relaunched its digital ID plans as a voluntary scheme, positioning the initiative as a way to simplify access to public services through a smartphone-based wallet.
Cabinet Office minister Darren Jones said the service could eventually support activities such as managing childcare, filing tax returns and accessing a wider range of government services through a single app. The updated approach follows the government’s decision to drop plans to make digital ID compulsory for all new right-to-work checks after public opposition.
An eight-week consultation has now been launched, alongside a People’s Panel intended to gather views from across the country on how the system should work. Ministers say digital right-to-work checks will still become compulsory by the end of the current Parliament, but digital ID itself will not be the only acceptable credential for employment checks.
United Kingdom
Additionally, the UK government says its future digital ID system will be built in-house rather than outsourced to a private company.
Darren Jones said responsibility for the design, build and operation of the scheme would remain within government, supported by the Government Digital Service. He also said the project would not involve creating a new central database, with data continuing to remain in the departments that already hold it, such as HMRC, the DVLA and the Department for Work and Pensions.
The approach is intended to address public concerns about sovereignty, privacy and private-sector control over foundational digital identity infrastructure.
Europe
IDnow has selected Bright Pattern’s AI-driven contact centre platform to support more than one million video-based identifications each month across Europe.
The move replaces the company’s previous contact centre infrastructure and is intended to improve management of high-volume, real-time identity checks across multiple countries and languages. The platform integrates with IDnow’s proprietary video identification technology, adds AI-based routing and orchestration, and supports more than 650 agents across several countries.
IDnow says the shift has also consolidated seven locations into a single private cloud environment and reduced maintenance costs.
Global
HYPR has published its sixth annual State of Passwordless Identity Assurance report, highlighting a major shift in enterprise identity security concerns.
For the first time, generative AI and agentic AI have overtaken stolen credentials as the top threats identified by respondents. The report also points to widespread encounters with deepfake-based attacks and growing support for FIDO passkeys, while noting that enterprise-wide implementation of passwordless technologies remains slower than awareness and literacy levels might suggest.
HYPR says the findings show organisations are moving towards identity verification as a way to close the gap between recognising the threat and taking effective action.
United States
House Republicans are advancing a legislative package that would place age verification at the centre of new online child safety requirements.
The proposals would require digital platforms and app stores to introduce stronger mechanisms to verify the ages of users, alongside broader obligations around parental controls, safety audits, reporting tools and transparency for AI chatbot interactions with children. Supporters say the measures are needed to better protect minors online, while critics continue to raise privacy concerns about age-verification infrastructure.
Separately, the Senate has passed changes to the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act, reflecting broader bipartisan momentum around child online safety.
Comoros
Comoros has selected GenKey to produce its biometric passports and national ID cards, replacing long-time provider Semlex.
Officials say the new arrangement will ensure biometric data is stored domestically rather than abroad, and will also allow passport and ID card production to be extended beyond Moroni to the country’s other main islands. Issuance of passports and ID cards has been suspended until 26 March while the transition takes place.
The move comes as Comoros continues to build out its digital public infrastructure with support from the African Development Bank.
Australia
Australia has expanded its age verification framework, introducing one of the world’s broadest regimes for underage access to online services.
The Age-Restricted Material Codes now require designated platforms to implement age assurance measures such as facial age estimation, digital wallets or photo ID checks for access to content including pornography, high-impact violence, self-harm and suicide-related material. The rules apply across a wide range of services, including AI chatbots, app stores, gaming platforms, search engines and messaging services.
The changes follow Australia’s earlier move to ban under-16s from social media and are already prompting pushback from some providers.
Jordan
Jordan’s cabinet has approved draft amendments that would give digital identity the same legal standing as the country’s physical national ID card.
If passed by parliament, the changes would require public and private institutions to accept the digital credential issued through the state framework. The amendments would also create a free digital mailbox for each citizen, resident and establishment through the Sanad app, allowing official notifications and correspondence to be delivered through digital identity infrastructure.
The package also links digital identity to higher-value online transactions, including proposed changes that would allow vehicle sale and purchase transactions to be completed fully online using electronic signatures and remote authentication.
United States
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has added three modern identity credential options to Medicare.gov, enabling new users to authenticate using biometric-based identity services.
The new options are Login.gov, ID.me and CLEAR. According to CMS, uptake has been strong in the early days following rollout, with a large share of new users choosing one of the modern credential paths and most of those users having already completed identity verification through another participating service.
Officials say the new options are intended to improve security and provide more flexible account creation choices for users accessing Medicare services online.
Spain
Spain’s data protection authority has fined Yoti €950,000 for GDPR violations linked to its digital ID app.
The ruling covers three areas: biometric data processing, consent design and data retention. The largest portion of the fine relates to the authority’s conclusion that Yoti lacked a lawful basis for certain biometric processing during account setup. Additional findings concerned consent flows that allowed users to proceed without meaningfully engaging with privacy information, and retention periods the authority considered excessive.
Yoti has said it is appealing the decision to the Spanish High Court and noted that the ruling applies only to the Yoti Digital ID app.
South Africa
South Africa has activated the first bank branches under its expanded partnership model for Smart ID services, with plans to extend access through banking apps by the end of 2026.
Nine branches operated by Capitec Bank and Standard Bank are already handling Smart ID applications, with more expected to go live shortly. The Department of Home Affairs says the long-term goal is to reach 1,000 participating branches by 2029.
The expansion is intended to help move more citizens from the older green bar-coded ID book to the biometric Smart ID card, which officials describe as both a service improvement and an important step in reducing identity fraud.
Global
iProov has launched its Workforce Solution Suite, aimed at helping enterprises defend against deepfakes and other modern identity attacks across workforce use cases.
The new offering is designed to verify genuine human presence in scenarios including remote hiring and onboarding, shared device access, step-up and privileged access, and account recovery. The company is positioning the suite as both a security and operational efficiency tool for organisations facing increasingly sophisticated identity threats.
