CARICOM states push ahead with digital ID amid privacy, trust debates

Governments and financial institutions across the Caribbean are accelerating digital identity initiatives, as countries in the CARICOM bloc push toward more secure digital services while confronting public concerns around privacy, surveillance and trust.

Recent developments in Guyana, Belize and the Bahamas highlight how the region is gradually shifting from fragmented legacy identification systems toward broader digital identity ecosystems tied to biometrics, QR-based credentials and digital verification infrastructure.

In Guyana, Data Protection Commissioner Aneal Giddings defended the country’s emerging digital ID framework following public criticism over surveillance and privacy risks tied to the country’s Digital Identity Card Act.

Giddings said Guyana’s Data Protection Act and Digital Identity Card Act were deliberately designed as companion laws, with the digital ID legislation requiring the appointment of a Data Protection Commissioner before the system could come into force.

“The Digital Identity Card Act did not sidestep data protection — it required it,” Giddings wrote in a public response to concerns raised in local media.

According to the Commissioner, the framework gives citizens rights over their personal information, including the ability to request access, corrections and deletions, while placing legal obligations on both government agencies and private contractors handling public data.

Giddings said the current enrolment process only relies on basic identity information already held by state agencies such as the Guyana Elections Commission, the Guyana Revenue Authority and the National Insurance Scheme. He added that tax, medical and financial records are not currently stored on the cards themselves.

The cards are designed to comply with ICAO biometric security standards and include anti-forgery protections such as laser-engraved polycarbonate material and PKI-enabled authentication features.

Giddings acknowledged broader public concerns surrounding surveillance, political profiling and commercial misuse of personal data, but argued that safeguards including purpose limitation, data minimization and independent oversight were built into the legal framework.

Elsewhere in the Caribbean, Belize is continuing efforts to build support for a national digital identity system intended to modernize how citizens authenticate themselves both physically and online.

Jose Urbina, CEO of Belize’s Ministry of E-Governance, said the country’s Social Security card has effectively become Belize’s de facto national identity credential, with citizens routinely sharing copies of their Social Security cards and passport bio pages with banks, telecom providers and other institutions.

Urbina argued that the proposed national digital ID system would reduce unnecessary exposure of identity numbers by replacing repeated document sharing with QR-code based verification tied to backend biometric systems.

“Your national ID is a confidential number,” Urbina said. “The scanning of a QR code that’s printed on your card will be used. It’s no longer, again, okay, what’s your number?”

The approach reflects a broader shift in digital identity architecture toward reusable credentials and tokenized verification methods that reduce reliance on static identity numbers.

Meanwhile, in the Bahamas, Visa launched a tap-based digital identity verification system in partnership with fintech company Keyno and Fidelity Bank Bahamas.

The system allows customers to verify their identity or activate payment cards by tapping a Visa card against a mobile device inside a banking application.

Visa said the platform uses EMV cryptography and its Visa Transaction Exchange (VTEX) infrastructure to authenticate card data in real time through VisaNet.

The company described the initiative as transforming a payment card into a reusable digital identity credential capable of reducing friction in banking and digital commerce.

“As commerce becomes increasingly digital, identity verification has emerged as one of the defining challenges of modern banking and payments,” Visa said in announcing the rollout.

The developments reflect a broader regional shift toward digital identity infrastructure across CARICOM, as governments and private-sector providers attempt to modernize authentication systems while balancing security, privacy and public trust concerns.

Article Topics

Bahamas  |  Belize  |  biometrics  |  Caribbean  |  digital ID  |  digital payments  |  Guyana  |  national ID