Government fintech adoption: what role for digital identity?
Governments are moving at different speeds when it comes to introducing digital identities (ID).
In Estonia, for example, a state-issued digital ID has existed for 20 years. In many other countries, however, progress remains slow. In the UK a single digital ID for every citizen was described earlier this year as ‘the Rosetta Stone of digital’ by the former head of the Government Digital Service. ‘If you can create this digital identity, you can move forward and produce joined-up services very quickly, because you can link datasets together… If you can’t, you end up getting really quite stuck’, Kevin Cunnington told Global Government Fintech’s sister title Global Government Forum.
As digital solutions begin to proliferate, and public authorities start to explore, experiment with and adopt fintech solutions, will national digital ID schemes take on growing importance? Is a lack of digital ID infrastructure (where applicable) hindering experimentation with fintech-related innovations that can help deliver public services?
Global Government Fintech’s webinar sought to assess the challenges with implementing a national digital ID scheme; and explore the nexus between national digital ID schemes and public authorities’ exploration and adoption of fintech solutions.
#FintechDigitalID
Panel
Keyzom Ngodup Massally, Head of Digital Programmes, Chief Digital Office, United Nations Development Programme
Keyzom Ngodup Massally is the Head of Digital Programmes at the Chief Digital Office, UNDP. She is a passionate advisor, focusing on inclusive digital growth with a whole-of-society approach for the achievement of the SDGs. Keyzom’s current work entails unlocking a more equitable world by encouraging, implementing, and scaling Digital Public Goods (DPGs) and Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) to tackle global dilemmas. She also steers UNDP’s work on inclusive connectivity and digital capacity building.
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Pirthipal Singh, Executive Director, Digital Identity, Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
Pirth Singh has over 20 years of experience leading digital and service delivery initiatives in various federal departments in the Government of Canada. He is currently the Executive Director for Digital Identity at the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat where he is responsible for developing a national approach to the use of digital credentials to enable the delivery of public and private sector services. Pirth holds a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering and an M.B.A from McMaster University. He lives in Nepean, Ontario with his wife and two children.
Kendrick Lee, Director, National Digital Identity, Government Technology Agency (GovTech), Singapore
Kendrick Lee is Director of the National Digital Identity (NDI) programme at Government Technology Agency of Singapore (GovTech). NDI is one of eight strategic national projects that drives Singapore’s Smart Nation vision.
In his role, Kendrick oversees product management of Singpass application programming interfaces (APIs) as well as digital payments; with the aim of enabling secure and seamless transactions for residents, businesses and government agencies.
He also serves industry as adjunct lecturer of digital product strategy at the Institute of Systems Science (ISS-NUS), digital identity expert group member at the Biometrics Institute, and technical working group member of ‘Trustworthy Digital Infrastructure for Identity Systems’ project with The Alan Turing Institute.
Webinar chair: Siobhan Benita, former UK senior civil servant
Siobhan Benita was a senior civil servant with over 15 years’ Whitehall experience. She worked in many of the major delivery departments, including Transport, Environment, Health and Local Government. She also had senior roles at the heart of Government in the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury, including supporting the then Cabinet Secretary, Lord O’Donnell to lead work on Civil Service reform and strategy. Siobhan left the Civil Service to run as an independent candidate in the Mayor of London election. She subsequently joined her alma mater, Warwick University as Chief Strategy Officer of Warwick in London and Co-Director of the Warwick Policy Lab.
