EMEA TECHNOLOGY
transactions, easy online onboarding of new customers as well as automated digital signatures for the approval of online documents and notifications. Its mobile solution is used a staggering 3.5 times per week by customers 2 and has fundamentally changed how the public interacts with online financial services. Si milar ly, Be lg iu m’s Itsme mobi l e so l u t io n h a s b e e n suppor ted by fo ur le a d in g Be lgi um bank s and t hre e o f t h e c o u ntr y ’s bi ggest t e l e c o ms o p e r at ors. Thank s to i ts e a s e o f u s e , s e c uri ty and fl exi bi l i ty, i t at t r ac t e d mo re than 350,000 us er s in it s f ir s t year of operati on 3 . An d n o w, as it e cl i pses two years i n ex is t e n c e , it is reachi ng the one m i l lio n c u s t o me r mi l estone.
Bringing security, convenience and financial inclusion to individuals Digital identities can also bring great economic benefits by driving financial inclusion. According to the World Bank’s ID4D database 4 , there are approximately 1 billion individuals without a legal form of identification, and just under 3.5 billion with some form of ID but no recognisable digital trail. This means that over half of the world’s population is either unable or has no means to access critical online services and participate in the digital economy. For those in this bracket, the result is often societal marginalisation as they are unable to enjoy the same security and convenience benefits afforded by the connected world.
Digital identities provide a robust solution to this problem. They can create economic and social value for excluded communities by providing secure, yet flexible access to previously unattainable goods and services. Unlike paper-based ID documents, they are under the protection of a third-party, usually a bank, and can be used to unlock digital benefits in real-time. Importantly, third parties, such as banks or government services, can use an individual’s digital ID to streamline access to public services and drive service innovation across the private sector. In this scenario, digital identities can be used by authorised government or banking institutions to verify ID requests without having to disclose the individual’s personal data. As the
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