ABI Research’s new report, Government ID & Payment Convergence: Multi-Application Analysis, will take a closer look at the convergence of the government ID and payments market. Today there is a significant trend in the incorporation of payment functionality into various identity credentials, such as national ID, healthcare and social security/welfare cards, or government ID applications converged onto payment cards.
Although market convergence will not be limited to the government ID and payments market, it is these two applications which have had the most convergence traction over the past 12 months. Likely the combining of these two applications will be the trigger for more to follow, including online payments and identity authentication, transition or introduction of mobile equivalents to name but a few. Travel/transportation, social security, and welfare, all now popular applications governments, want to enable on one card, extending functionality and providing a platform from which governments can have greater engagement with both its citizens and private sector service provider participants.
The enablement of multi-application is not a new concept, but true multi-application card deployments incorporating several application types are few and far between. As governments push for increased capabilities are we going to begin seeing the first true multi-application government ID cards coming to market? How will the inclusion of different applications affect issuance of standalone application cards and will market convergence have a play within the mobile space? Can Federation/FIM have a role within online authentication between converging markets? Will governments continue to be the issuance points of credentials or will issuance be pushed to other entities, including banks and financial institutions. These are just some of the example questions ABI Research will address within this analysis.