Sovrin Foundation and IDnow explore digital ID specialties as new age verification service launched

The Sovrin Foundation says it is leading to world towards adoption of self-sovereign identity (SSI) to provide digital identities for people, businesses and organizations that grant them unprecedented control over their own data. Sovrin, which cracked Goode Intelligence’s 10 most influential digital identity organizations, says trust is the foundational layer of a new model that could enable huge savings in customer retention and help with regulatory compliance, and has brought some statistics to support its argument.

Accenture says $2.5 trillion is lost to global brands due to lack of trust each year, and Gartner predicts almost two-thirds of the world’s population will be covered by modern privacy regulations by 2023, and collects cybersecurity, KYC and AML, air travel, banking, healthcare, gig economy, and supply chain market figures from IDG, McKinsey & Company, World Economic Forum, Burton-Taylor International Consulting and Allied Market Research.

Juniper Research is forecasting the SSI market to reach $1.1 billion in annual global revenue by 2024, from an expected $100 million in 2020. OWI Analytics says the KYC and AML market will be worth $11.8 billion in 2022.

IDnow published KYC handbook for fintechs

IDnow has published a handbook for fintechs, detailing the geographic and industry-specific differences between KYC regulatory requirements that apply to them.

The “Handbook of Fintech Regulations 2020 — How to balance customer experience with increasing AML requirements” is intended to inform companies from across the fintech ecosystem which regulations apply to them and what their digital KYC solution options are.

“FinTechs find themselves in a unique situation in terms of regulations,” said Alexis Segovia, Head of FinTech Relations at IDnow. “There are different business models across different sectors, but in most cases the same rules apply as for traditional financial institutions. Dedicated legislation for FinTechs does not yet exist. This sometimes makes it complicated.”

IDnow raised $40 million to expand its market reach last year, and now has more than 250 customers.

Australian payments provider launches age verification

Electronic payments provider Eftpos is launching a biometric age verification service to the Australian digital identity market, which a bank official said recently is lagging behind the country’s needs, according to Fintech Business.

The technology leverages a customer’s online banking app and native mobile device biometrics, and a Credential Service Provider confirms the customer’s age-eligibility to purchase alcohol to the vendor. Eftpos demonstrated a transaction at the recent Retail Live conference in Melbourne.

Fintech Business notes that Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Philip Lowe has called the country’s digital identity landscape “fragmented and siloed,” and called for improved digital identity to reduce fraud.

“This gives rise to security vulnerabilities and creates significant inconvenience and inefficiencies, which can undermine development of the digital economy,” he told the Australian Payments Network late last year.

Article Topics

age verification  |  biometric payments  |  biometrics  |  cybersecurity  |  digital identity  |  fintech  |  IDnow  |  KYC  |  self-sovereign identity