Jamaica adopts remote biometric verification from Orba for pensioners

Financial services conglomerate Sagicor has announced it will use face recognition technologies by Jamaica-based Orba to verify that the nation’s pensioners are still alive and can continue to receive benefits from private pension schemes.

As reported by The Gleaner, the biometric technology will replace notarized certificates pensioners had to submit annually ‘as proof of life.’ Individuals will have to upload a photo of a Government-issued picture ID and then record a short video of their face, also once a year.

“By taking a photo with their mobile device or computer, pensioners can confirm their identity and that they are alive, eliminating the need for in-person interactions and streamlining the proof of life process,” Sagicor writes.

“This will be particularly beneficial for pensioners currently living in the diaspora, who need to attain proof of life certificates, which are verified by notaries public overseas.”

The solution deployed as part of this scheme results from a collaboration between Sagicor, Orba and the UTech Innovation Lab, of which the financial conglomerate is a backer. The Gleaner said the system took 13 months to develop and was piloted for two months before nationwide deployment.

Further, Sagicor has confirmed it is in the process of exploring additional biometric technologies.

As for Orba, the technology partner company website suggests it has customers working on over 40 projects across Europe, Africa, North America, and the Caribbean.

In a recent interview with Cayman Loop, Orba CEO Dwight Scott says the company specializes in building customized software, with a particular focus on facial recognition software and web integration and application tools.

Orba’s headquarters are in Jamaica, but the company also has engineering teams in Switzerland and Canada. Scott tells Cayman Loop they established the firm after noticing that almost 90 percent of all banks and big firms in Jamaica were from somewhere other than the country.

“We have created our own […] localized algorithm that integrates the new National ID into our platform because, for most of our pensioners, the National ID is the ID of choice and […] this is how we are able to beat our international competitors,” Scott is quoted saying.

Orba also offers liveness detection capabilities, and the applications based on its technology are compliant with know your customer (KYC) processes across several countries.

Also in Jamaica, the government recently launched a campaign to issue free birth certificates to 11,000 citizens.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  face biometrics  |  facial authentication  |  identity verification  |  Jamaica  |  Orba  |  selfie biometrics