Govt needs to develop digital identity technology to boost digital economy

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Kuala Lumpur, 5 October 2020 – As information and data becoming critical assets to boost digital economy, there is an urgent need for governments to consider implementing a national strategy around the digital identity.

Daniel Gorfine, the founder of Gattaca Horizons, a boutique financial technology (fintech) advisory firm based in the United States, said every country needs to modernise its financial architecture, and its digital identification would be an absolute basic infrastructure in the future.

He said technology would help the government simplify and fasten the identification process that require real-time check, such as channelling economic stimulus to end recipients and bank account verification.

“We have facial recognition software today, which are increasingly powerful, trusted and accurate.

“That’s the case, there is no reason why now, or in a few years’ time, we are not able to identify an individual on his or her smartphone to unlock all the data about them to verify their identity,” he said at the virtual SCxSC Fintech Conference 2020 organised by the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) here today.

Gorfine was speaking at a session titled “Brave New World: Conceptualising the Future of Modern Financial Architecture”, which was moderated by SC assistant general manager Chan Zhong Yang.

Asked whether governments should work together to harmonise technology, Gorfine believed that different countries would require different systems due to the privacy rights and data protections.

He said it is important for a country to work with partners who have similar norms and value.

“The fact that we do have all that access to information and data that are incredibly powerful, it can be used for a great good, but it can also be used for a great harm,” he said.

-BERNAMA