TRENDING: Dynamic Rules And Global Authentication

The world might be growing smaller and more connected, but regulations and authentication methods can create issues for international businesses looking to expand globally. Now, companies and even governments, from the U.S. to the U.K. to Indonesia, are working to develop new digital identity tools that can ease these challenges and push international businesses forward.

In the latest Digital Identity Tracker, PYMNTS takes a look at digital identity credential developments around the world.

Around The Digital ID World

In Europe, multiple countries in the British Isles are working to create new digital identity platforms and credentials.

The United Kingdom’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, for one, is proposing changes to the country’s digital identity platform, which would open government databases to private sector organizations via an application programming interface (API). This new system would offer improved access to identity verification information, which could be used by businesses and the government to authenticate transactions and prevent fraud or cyberattacks.

Scotland, meanwhile, is looking to distributed ledger technologies (DLTs) to develop secure digital identity credentials. The Blockpass Identity Lab, a blockchain and distributed ledger research and development center, recently opened its doors on the Merchiston Campus of Scotland’s Edinburgh Napier University. This center, part of an ongoing partnership between the university and Hong Kong-based Blockpass IDN, makes Scotland the home to what some are calling the world’s first blockchain identity laboratory.

Europe isn’t alone in its pursuit of digitizing identification, though — just ask Indonesia. The country’s government recently announced a partnership with California-based firm Everest Technologies. The pair will create a digital identity program that will improve the country’s National LPG Subsidy Program, which assists 41 million citizens with heating and other utilities by making it more efficient, transparent and inclusive.

To read more about these stories and find the rest of the latest headlines from around the space, check out the Tracker’s News and Trends section.

Onboarding And Authenticating A Global User Base

As international governments work to digitize identity credentials, their citizens are looking to make purchases online from retailers around the world, particularly in the U.S. They’re often not able to do so, however, without access to debit cards or other forms of payment trusted by these merchants.

Now, the companies tasked with moving money across the globe are working to solve the complicated challenge of quickly onboarding a worldwide user base and protecting the payments they make.

In a recent interview with PYMNTS, Tern Commerce CEO Brion Bonkowski explained why the company needed to adopt a solution to authenticate new customers quickly.

“We’re onboarding companies from 100 different countries … and for all our reloadable accounts, we require document uploads,” he said. “From an operational standpoint, a big part of it was about trying to drill down on the cost.”

About The Tracker

The Digital Identity Tracker, produced in collaboration with Jumio, is a forum for framing and addressing key issues and trends faced by the entities charged with efficiently and securely identifying and granting permission to individuals to access, purchase, transact or otherwise confirm their identities.