New Zealand
New Zealand is preparing to trial its first government-issued digital credential, allowing businesses to verify and share information about their identity and authorised representatives.
The NZBN Business Passport, developed by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), will be stored in a digital wallet within the Govt.nz app. It will allow businesses to share verified details, including whether an individual is authorised to act on their behalf.
The initial trial will involve selected Westpac business customers, who will be able to use the credential alongside the bank’s existing digital proof of account ownership.
The business passport will be the second credential accredited under New Zealand’s Digital Identity Services Trust Framework, following Westpac’s credential. MBIE said feedback from the trial would inform decisions about wider adoption.
Moldova
Moldova has suspended the use of digital identity documents for voter identification following a cyberattack on government information systems.
The Central Electoral Commission withdrew plans to pilot digital IDs from the government’s EVO application during local elections and a referendum on 1 November, requiring voters to present physical identity documents instead.
The decision followed a cyberattack between 19 and 23 October that authorities said resulted in the unauthorised extraction of personal information associated with approximately 750,000 state identification numbers.
Moldova’s Electronic Governance Agency subsequently ordered security checks across 82 digital public services. As of 30 October, 61 had been restored, while 21 remained unavailable.
The electoral commission said digital identification could be reconsidered for future elections once the security of the affected systems had been confirmed.
Nigeria
Nigeria has requested a further 12-month extension to its national digital identity programme, as it works to replace legacy infrastructure and increase enrolment.
According to a World Bank restructuring paper, the government wants to extend the Digital Identification for Development project until 31 December 2027, with priority given to deploying a new National Identity Management System based on the Modular Open Source Identity Platform (MOSIP).
The proposed NIMS 2.0 infrastructure is intended to replace fragmented proprietary systems and improve interoperability, scalability and data protection.
The World Bank reported approximately 145 million enrolments as of 14 September, but only 121 million National Identification Numbers had been successfully generated following verification and deduplication. The programme has a target of 180 million enrolments.
The report also highlighted delays in payments to enrolment partners and the need to accelerate registration, particularly among women and children.
Vietnam and Singapore
Vietnam is working to connect its VNeID national digital identity application with Singapore’s Singpass and Laos’ LAeID systems, with trial connectivity targeted before 15 November.
The initiative is intended to simplify immigration and administrative procedures while strengthening digital cooperation between ASEAN countries.
Connecting VNeID and Singpass could also support a wider digital corridor between Vietnam and Singapore, enabling future cooperation across trade, investment, tourism, finance and public services.
The project reflects growing interest in interoperability between national digital identity systems, rather than requiring participating countries to adopt a single shared credential.
India
Indian airline IndiGo and Digi Yatra have launched trials extending biometric passenger processing to international flights at seven airports.
The pilot, which began in late October and will continue until December, allows eligible passengers on selected IndiGo flights to use Digi Yatra’s digital identity technology for airport entry and certain security and boarding processes.
Travellers must still complete mandatory passport and travel document checks at the airline counter before using facial authentication at participating checkpoints.
Digi Yatra said credentials are stored locally on passengers’ smartphones, with the trial designed to assess how the existing domestic biometric travel system can support international journeys.
Canada
Canada and the European Union have agreed to pursue closer cooperation on digital identity and cross-border payments.
A joint statement issued on 30 October commits both parties to working towards mutual recognition of digital identities, digital credentials and trust services.
The proposed cooperation could eventually allow credentials issued in one jurisdiction to be recognised in the other, reducing repeated identity verification requirements for cross-border digital services.
The agreement is an expression of intent rather than an operational interoperability arrangement, with further work required to establish the technical, legal and governance requirements.
Somalia
Somalia’s National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) has announced the implementation of Hubiye, a national platform allowing banks and other service providers to verify identity credentials against the country’s national ID database.
The system enables organisations to submit a person’s national identity number and request verification, with the individual authorising the check using a one-time password delivered by SMS or email.
Hubiye forms part of Somalia’s wider digital public infrastructure programme alongside its eAqoonsi digital identity application.
According to figures reported by the UN Development Programme in May, Hubiye supported real-time identity verification across 25 integrated services and served approximately 1.2 million citizens.
The system is also expected to support Somalia’s forthcoming Halmeel public services platform, which is targeting an initial launch by March 2027.
Global
Passkeys are becoming an increasingly common method of authentication, with new research from the FIDO Alliance highlighting improvements in adoption, speed and successful sign-ins.
The organisation’s 2026 Passkey Index, drawing on data from 15 consumer-facing organisations, found that passkeys accounted for an average of 36 percent of successful sign-ins among those reporting usage, compared with 26 percent in the previous year’s study.
Passkey sign-ins succeeded 93 percent of the time, compared with 78 percent for passwords and traditional multi-factor authentication. They were also 2.8 times faster, saving an average of 27 seconds per sign-in among organisations measuring speed.
However, while an average of 90 percent of active accounts were eligible for passkeys, only 42 percent of eligible accounts had one enrolled.
All eight participating organisations that measured phishing reported fewer successful attacks following passkey deployment.
United Kingdom
Ofcom has warned that some teenagers could struggle to access age-restricted online services if they do not possess suitable identity documents.
According to the regulator, approximately 150,000 people aged 16 and 17 do not hold a passport or driving licence, potentially creating difficulties where official identification is required to establish their age.
Ofcom has identified four methods it considers highly effective for age assurance: matching an identity document against a live selfie, bank-based verification, digital identity services and facial age estimation.
However, it said official identity documents may still be required as a fallback where other methods cannot establish someone’s age with sufficient confidence.
Malaysia
Malaysia’s National Cyber Security Agency has called for stronger digital identity safeguards and closer cooperation between government, industry and the public to protect the country’s digital infrastructure.
Speaking at the rawSEC MiniCon 2026 conference, agency chief executive Dr Megat Zuhairy Megat Tajuddin said trusted digital identity systems were essential to national cybersecurity and digital sovereignty.
At the same event, MyDigital ID deputy chief executive Azrin Aris called for a move beyond single-factor authentication, arguing that multi-factor authentication could help close security gaps exploited by cybercriminals.
Global
Identity verification companies Fourthline and Veridas have completed a merger, creating a combined business offering identity verification, compliance and fraud prevention services across more than 50 countries.
The companies said their integrated platform would combine biometric technology, fraud detection and compliance capabilities across Europe, Latin America and the United States.
The merged business expects to process approximately 200 million identity verifications in 2026 and projects combined revenue exceeding €50 million this year.
The transaction includes financing of up to €65 million from existing investor Finch Capital, new equity investment from Seaya Andromeda and debt financing from Ashgrove Capital.
Global
OCR Studio has launched One-Shot KYC, an identity verification product that allows users to capture their identity document and face in a single image during digital onboarding.
The technology extracts information from the document, fills in registration fields and compares the document photograph with the user’s face to verify identity.
According to the company, the processing takes place locally on the user’s device, without transmitting document images, selfies or extracted personal information to external servers.
The system is designed for banks, fintech companies, telecommunications providers and other businesses seeking to simplify identity checks during account registration.
Europe
The European Commission has reportedly asked member states to delay national legislation restricting children’s access to social media while it develops a harmonised EU framework.
According to reporting by Politico, the Commission wants to postpone overlapping national proposals for 12 months as it progresses the proposed EU Kids Act.
The legislation is intended to establish common rules for age-based access to social media across the bloc, reducing the risk of different requirements in individual countries.
However, the proposal has met resistance from some governments. Austria’s Vice-Chancellor Andreas Babler criticised the delay and said the country intended to continue preparing its legislation so that restrictions could be introduced once the EU standstill period ended.
