MANILA, Philippines — The Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP) has tied up with a technology and consulting company to further enhance the country’s digital identity technology through the establishment of an industry-wide facility.
The BAP recently convened with Amihan Global Strategies to revolutionize validation processes in the banking industry.
With this, the Philippines is said to be one of the first few countries in the world to employ a powerful and sophisticated technology for identity management.
BAP president Nestor Tan said the group is committed to pursue the Philippine banking roadmap crafted with the support of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
“This initiative will enable the banking industry to provide a more convenient and faster way of delivering banking services to their clients,” Tan, who is also president and CEO of BDO Unibank Inc., said.
Centered on “self-sovereign identity,” the facility will enable an individual to have the sole control and discretion of sharing his personal information to selected recipients of his choice.
Using the platform, the onboarding process of clients will be easier and more efficient as the individuals themselves, through participating banks and accredited agents, would be able to upload personal information immediately through mobile phones.
Once the uploaded information is validated and vetted by a participating bank, clients will be able to open a new bank account and access banking services of other participating banks in a much faster and easier way.
The facility is powered by blockchain technology that enables a permanent and distributed ledger of transactions that cannot be tampered with.
“We welcome this development for the Philippines. The BAP joins a global movement to benefit consumers using blockchain technology,” said Brian Behlendorf, executive director of Hyperledger.
“We’re proud that the banking community is using open source software from Hyperledger technology to enrich data privacy and finance.”
Several major banks including BDO, BPI, Citibank, East West Bank, AUB, Metrobank, and Union Bank have already signed on to accept and verify customer data on the platform, while other banks are soon expected to follow.
There are only 44 million out of 100 million Filipinos who deposit money into bank accounts. However, with Philippines’ rapid economic growth and the influx of digital technology, it should be noted that more and more Filipinos expect to have easier access to financial services.
Amihan Global Strategies founder and executive chairman Winston Damarillo said digital is the best solution for financial inclusion in the Philippines.
“We are excited to collaborate with Hyperledger and the BAP to deliver inclusive innovation for the Philippines,” he said.
Source: https://www.philstar.com/business/banking/2017/11/20/1760805/banks-eye-digital-banking-id-facility
