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FinTechs belonging to this category provide identification services, which are required for most banking services.
Introduction
Attitude of the country towards identification services
Singapore generally adopts a positive and trusting attitude towards identification services due to its potential for expediting verification processes and improving the customer experience. Facial recognition, touch ID fingerprint sensors and voice recognition have seen greater adoption among financial market participants such as banks and digital payment services providers. Identification technology is also adopted in official government infrastructure such as Singapore Personal Access (Singpass), which is a national digital identity program developed as a collaboration between the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Government Technology Agency. Singpass is integrated in various government services and some authorized service providers, and is therefore very familiar to Singapore citizens and residents. Corppass is a similar initiative by the same providers, being the national digital identity system of businesses in Singapore.
Legal affairs
Obligations and requirements to provide identification services
There is no specific legislation for the regulation and licensing of identification services and its service providers.
However, persons and entities handling sensitive personal information are subject to standards and requirements for handling such data or information under the Personal Data Protection Act 2012, and where the service provider is licensed to carry out any regulated activity they must comply with the information and data collection standards for Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) as set out in the relevant legislation applicable to their scope of licensed activity.
Additional comments regarding the legal situation for identification services or what FinTech’s must be aware of in this business area
N/A
Economic conditions
Market size for identification services and biggest companies in this business area
Data on the market size for such services is limited. Key service providers or products that are recognized in Singapore are Singpass, Advance.AI and SGFinDex.
Persons and entities still rely primarily on the National Registration Identity Card (NRIC), Singpass or Corppass systems and information that can be furnished to members of the public by regulatory authorities (such as the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority) to fulfil the functions required of identification services.
Additional comments regarding the economic situation for identification services or what FinTech’s must be aware of in this business area
N/A