2020 predictions for biometrics and digital identity

There are few more exciting topics in 2020 than biometrics and digital identity. That being said, here are 4 predictions on the topic for 2020:

  1. Series players will emerge to offer digital identity as a service. 2020 will be the year of the single digital identity. Serious industry players will start to emerge with credible, scaled offerings that allow consumers to create one digital identity for use in many different contexts and situations, from healthcare to car hire. The result for the consumer will be infinitely enhanced convenience coupled with greater control of their own identity security.
  2. Strong customer authentication in banking will take off. We’re definitely going to see real action and innovation in strong authentication this year. This will be driven by the implementation of PSD2, whose provisions on strong customer authentication went largely ignored prior to the original deadline of September 2019. A new deadline for 2021 has been set, so we can expect to see a lot of activity here.
  3. Biometrics for onboarding will become the norm. There’s going to be rapid acceptance of biometrics for automated onboarding in financial services in 2020. The regulations surrounding anti-money laundering change the game entirely for how consumers go through the onboarding experience and provide opportunities for an overhaul of the services that banks can offer. This will be turbo-charged by Apple’s release last September of the ability to read passports from iPhones, joining Android and making it ubiquitous.
  4. The public will recognize the threat of deepfakes. The potential impact of deepfake videos and images will be felt by the general public this year. Ultra-realistic material showing people saying and doing things that they did not say or do will force all of us to recognize the possible implications. If someone can create a convincing video of Barack Obama being incredibly rude about Donald Trump, what other havoc could be wreaked on our lives using this ever-evolving technology? Our identities, our finances and our reputations could all be at risk.