Page 49 - The Digital Financial Services (DFS) Ecosystem

ITU-T Focus Group Digital Financial Services
Ecosystem

1 Introduction

The ability to formally identify oneself has increasingly become integral to many aspects of civic participation
and inclusion (Gelb & Clark, 2013). Proponents argue that formalized identity management systems have the
potential to establish strategic partnerships between the state and citizens (Malik, 2014). Failure to register
populations and provide identity documents is believed to have detrimental effects for both the individual and
the state (Cunningham, 2013). To both better understand and serve citizens, countries are placing increasing
attention on establishing national identification systems and the role they play in strategic political, economic,
and social development (ibid.).

Identification systems are becoming more common across Latin America, South and Southeast Asia, and Sub-
Saharan Africa. Of the 48 identity programs we review, 29 have been introduced in the past decade, and 14 of
those in the past five years. The driving force behind creating a national identity system varies from country
to country.

Key Findings

• Government-issued national IDs are the most common form of national identity program reviewed (38
of 48 programs).

• 28 programs have an electronic component and 37 programs employ biometric information, most
commonly in the form of fingerprints. 16 programs incorporate multiple biometrics into their IDs, usually
combining fingerprints with face or iris scans.
• 35 of the 48 national identity programs are operational and in use, meaning they have completed initial
enrollment and begun using the IDs, though ten of these are still actively enrolling new participants. Three
programs are planned initiatives which have not yet begun enrollment, and three are actively enrolling
but not yet operational.
• 39 programs report implementation challenges in some form. We identify seven general categories of
challenges: accountability, privacy, data management, enrollment, coverage, cost, and harmonization of
ID programs.

• Coverage of particular geographic or demographic groups is the most commonly reported challenge
(22 programs). 20 programs report challenges in two or more of the categories we identify.

• IDs are most commonly used for Know Your Customer (KYC) purposes, especially for financial transactions
and elections. 22 ID programs are mentioned as accepted credentials for banks to verify customer identity,
and 21 are accepted forms of identification to vote.
• Five ID programs are linked to digital banking and four have mobile money applications. 13 programs are
linked to government transfers, such as relief or welfare.
• 12 programs are connected to health functions. Four programs help enable digital tracking of medical
services and treatment, and four others assist with verification of eligibility for health insurance coverage
or for medical benefits.
• National ID programs are not well-linked to agricultural functions. Thailand’s “Smart ID” is linked to the
provision of extension services. Nigeria’s electronic ID (eID) is used to monitor delivery of farming inputs.
• Other functions that are being applied to national ID programs include surveillance and security, civil
service administration, travel, driver registration, and taxes.
• The year a program is introduced is not associated with number of functional linkages, but programs
that are still actively enrolling members appear to be linked to more types of services.
• Programs that include electronic cards or biometrics tend to have a greater variety of functional linkages
than programs that do not.
Rich countries have a relatively long history of using identification systems for surveillance and security
purposes, further motivated over the past decade by the events of 9/11(Bennett & Lyon, 2008; Gelb & Clark,

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