Unlocking the Door to Financial Inclusion – Report by ADB on Digizen’s Digital Bank ID in Papua New Guinea

In Papua New Guinea, the absence of official identification (ID) documents has posed a formidable challenge for those opening a bank account – 80% of the the citizens still remaining unbanked. To overcome this issue, Digizen designed and developed a robust and sustainable digital ID solution that works in remote and rural areas with no internet access or electricity.

Asian Development Bank (ADB) published a good report delving into the Digital ID project that rapidly eradicated the obstacle preventing rural communities in Papua New Guinea from accessing bank accounts - an absence of official ID. Digizen was the developer of the Digital Bank ID system in partnership with the Bank of PNG (the country's Central Bank and Financial Regulator) and two microfinance institutions MiBank and Women’s Microbank.

The contents of the report include:

• Project background
• Regulatory Context
• How the Digizen Digital ID Card Works
• The Digital Bank ID Card Pilot
• Voices of the Pilot Participants: the Cardholders
• Voices of the Pilot Participants: the Microfinance Institution Agents
• Success Factors and Lessons Learned
• Other Uses for the Digizen ID Card

We highly recommend reading the report as it describes really well how Digizen ID works and it provides an objective third party view of the results of testing the Digizen ID in the Regulatory Sandbox of the Bank of Papua New Guinea!

Download report

P.S. If the report provokes questions, drop us an email at hello@digizen.id!