Identification is one of the core building blocks for end-to-end digitization of remittances, given that all financial service providers must know their customers. Women and men on the move encounter significant identity verification challenges tied to their departure circumstances and the range of identification credentials at their disposal. The availability, quality, and type of identification documents vary substantially, complicating the identification process. Furthermore, migrants’ identification needs evolve along their journey—from border crossings to accessing employment, financial services, and government benefits. Understanding these complex identity dynamics and evolving identity needs is essential for creating identity solutions that foster migrant economic integration into host communities, deepening the financial sector in countries of destination and origin.
Though the concept of digital identity has grown as the digital world has expanded over the last 20 years, a significant number of people still do not have essential identity documents in many jurisdictions and corridors, making it difficult for them to prove their identity and preventing them from accessing financial services, including remittances and government services.
Unless challenges on acceptable identity and risk-based KYC are widely recognized by the regulators and policymakers, targeted interventions—to improve the flow of remittances through formal channels, and to reduce the transaction cost of remittances—may not yield the intended results. To allow for greater access to affordable remittances for migrants in an inclusive financial ecosystem, creating a better solution for trustworthy identification is of paramount importance.
As part of UNCDF’s Open Digital Payment Ecosystem workstream, this webinar furthers UNCDF’s work in digital finance to strengthen open digital payment infrastructure to enable affordable access to and usage of digital financial services for women and men migrants and their families. With a distinguished panel of speakers from Accenture Development Partnerships, African Development Bank (AfDB), Digital Identification and Authentication Council of Canada (DIACC), Western Union, and WISE, the webinar will deliberate on portable digital identity as an enabler of international remittances.
We will be hosting the webinar on 8 November 2023, 12:00 to 13:30 GMT.
How to join?
Please use the above registration link to register. After you register, you will receive an email confirmation and will be able to add the event to your calendars.
Speakers
– Brigit Carroll, Policy Lead for North America, WISE
– Joni Brennan, President, Digital Identification and Authentication Council of Canada (DIACC)
– Samatar Omar Elmi, Chief ICT Specialist, East Africa Regional Development and Business Delivery Office, African Development Bank (AfDB)
– Kevin Mole, Global Head of Digital Assets, Western Union
– Louise James, Managing Director, Accenture Development Partnerships
Moderator
– Mamadou Diallo, Senior Financial Sector Specialist, Migration and Remittances, UNCDF
Agenda
– Welcome note (5 min)
– Presentation of key insights from the research (UNCDF) (20 min)
– Panel discussions (40 min)
– Audience Q&A (20 min)
– Concluding remarks (Summary and the Next Steps) – (5 min)
Duration: 90 minutes