Leveraging digital ID in the financial sector: ID4Africa panel

Financial inclusion was highlighted as the mother of all digital ID use cases during an early panel discussion on the second day of ID4Africa’s ongoing Annual General Meeting in Addis Ababa. Panellists crossed views on how collaboration between governments and industry (private sector) on the implementation of effective digital ID systems makes this work.

This was part of a series of panel discussions dedicated to dissecting the multifaced uses of legal and digital identity in real-life situations, with the other panel discussions across the day delving into other digital ID use cases such as in the healthcare and travel sectors.

Preceding a keynote address from the CEO of IN Groupe, Agnès Diallo, which set the tone for the exchange, speakers from Visa, Tech5, DigitalTrust Technologies and FaceTec, shared practical lessons on how to leverage digital ID in the financial sector for greater impact.

Their different presentations outlined strategies for getting digital ID systems right, highlighting the necessity for strategic collaboration, citing real-world examples and explaining how to deal with the pervasive problem of identity fraud using advanced biometric security systems like FaceTec’s UR Code.

The first speaker of the panel, Yared Woldesenbet, head of Visa for Eastern Africa and country manager for Ethiopia, said in order for digital ID to be made relevant in the financial sector, there is the undeniable need to leverage Public-Private-Partnerships (PPP) to build robust digital government ecosystems.

“For digital IDs or digital platforms to be effective, interconnected systems are crucial. These include payment systems, data management systems, and multiple service providers that must work together seamlessly,” Woldesenbet said.

He cited the examples of Singapore and Ukraine where Visa is collaborating with governments there to facilitate access to banking services using digital ID platforms.

“One success story is the Singpass initiative in Singapore. Established in 2003, it has evolved significantly over time. It serves as a single secure login for citizens and residents to access over 2,000 digital services. It has contributed to 100 percent financial inclusion among eligible Singaporeans.”

Taking the floor, the Co-founder, Chairman and CTO of Tech5, Rahul Parthe, also emphasized on building an impactful digital ecosystem that breeds trust and supports stakeholder collaboration. He said above all else, governments must adopt “a pragmatic approach” and what he termed the “decentralized DPI approach,” like what they working on in Honduras.

He stated that financial inclusion is one of the building blocks of a digital nation as “a digital economy thrives through real financial inclusion and seamless payment integration which leads to rapid digital trade growth.”

He noted that digital ID ecosystems are built on rails and the payments “rail” is the most impactful layer that actually drives their adoption.

“Using digital identity makes financial inclusion easier. Imagine opening a bank account or getting a virtual card with just a few clicks. Strong customer authentication becomes straightforward in a decentralized setup. This enables all kinds of secure payment flows, and in any direction: government to citizen, citizen to government, peer-to-peer, and so on.”

Facetec’s Vice President for Government relations, Owen McShane, dwelled on the aspect of identity fraud, highlighting how the company’s UR Code technology can effectively protect digital IDs against the bad actors in the financial and other sectors. He said the UR Code is the short form for “You Are This Code.”

“Fake IDs were once mainly used by young people trying to buy alcohol or tobacco. But now, they’re increasingly used for serious financial crimes like opening credit cards, bank accounts, and purchasing vehicles,” he noted.

He said the digitally signed biometrics UR Code embeds biometric vectors and data into a QR code, which can be scanned and compared with a live selfie or a stored image to verify identity, linking physical or digital documents directly to individuals.

Uganda’s UgPass was also showcased as an example of how a digital identity platform can provide access to a wide range of services including financial inclusion. The Executive Director of the country’s National Information Technology Authority, Dr Hatwib Mugasa, and the Founder and CEO of DigitalTrust Technologies, Ramamohan Reddy, both gave details about the system.

Now used for several use cases including financial services, the duo said building UgPass was easy as it is based on a foundational ID system that already existed.

Mugasa explained that the UgPass has one major feature which is the digital wallet, which includes digital authentication and e-signature. Over time, they have scaled through challenges, learned lessons and have been able to develop UgPass version 2 which is a new digital ID wallet that holds all essential credentials, from land ownership and financial data, to social security and tax records.

With efforts being deployed to scale up the new UgPass wallet, the officials hope to have 10 million Ugandans sign up for it in the near future, build support for offline QR code verification and ensure the integration of over 100 service providers, including banks for financial inclusion, land offices, and tax authorities.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  digital ID  |  DigitalTrust Technologies  |  FaceTec  |  financial inclusion  |  ID4Africa  |  ID4Africa 2025  |  IN Groupe  |  QR code  |  TECH5  |  Visa