BIO-key to supply tens of thousands of mobile biometric scanners for NIN enrollment through bank

As financial institutions in Nigeria step up their efforts to enroll citizens in the country’s digital identity system, BIO-key has been selected by online lending platform Specta to supply tens of thousands of mobile biometric devices.

Specta is owned and operated by Sterling Bank Nigeria Plc., and will deploy Pocket10 mobile FAP50 fingerprint scanners from BIO-key to help register customers for National Identity Numbers (NINs).

The mobile biometric scanners are expected to improve enrollment in remote areas of the country, with independent aggregators and agents signing up individuals through the Specta program and specialized support services offered by Sterling Bank.

The enrollment initiative is co-funded by the World Bank and supported by the UN and Nigerian Federal Government as part of the country’s digital identity inclusion drive.

“With the distribution of these mobile biometric devices across our agent banking network, we are now more enabled to bring top-tier banking services closer to the people, deepen financial inclusion in the country and exponentially increase the number of beneficiaries of our robust and secure bouquet of products and services,” comments Sterling Bank Retail and Consumer Banking Divisional Head Shina Atilola.

“These are exciting times, having tirelessly worked over the past year to build an ecosystem with the right partners to support the NIN enrollment, identity verification and financial inclusion initiatives,” Akintunde Carlton Jeje (Tunde), managing director BIO-key Africa says. “We are now ready to expand our business in supporting the tens of thousands of Independent Agents with the requisite technologies – hardware, software and capital provided through Specta, that allows them to traverse the country to enroll the Nigerian citizens at scale.”

BIO-key struck a deal to supply up to $45 million worth of biometric hardware to support ecommerce in Nigeria in early-2020, and began shipping biometric hardware and software to the country just under a year ago.

Article Topics

Africa  |  BIO-key  |  biometric enrollment  |  biometrics  |  digital identity  |  fingerprint scanners  |  identity verification  |  mobile device  |  national ID  |  Nigeria