Digital ID in APAC: past rollout and towards implementation

APAC leads the world in digital ID adoption 

For years, digital identity systems have been an aspirational goal for most of the Asia Pacific (APAC) region. Today, these systems have been rolled out across the continent. In the last five years the region has moved away from pilots and towards focusing on utilisation rates and applications for these systems. Early adopters such as India and Singapore have achieved 99% and 97% adoption rates for their Aadhaar and SingPass systems, respectively. With the EU planning its Digital ID rollout by late 2026 and the UK and US further behind, APAC is at the forefront of global implementation of digital identity. 

Ongoing digital ID initiatives in APAC 

As these systems mature, governments are now working to apply them across their economies, including banking, payments, healthcare, social media and telecommunications. Current digital ID use cases in APAC include:  

1. Increased AML checks 
   By mandating biometric re-verification and linking IDs to SIM cards and bank accounts, Asian regulators have been aiming to eliminate the use of fake identities in the financial sector. Thailand and Vietnam have both cancelled or frozen millions of bank accounts that were not biometrically authenticated after their digital ID program rollouts. These cases had noticeable business impact, with many citizens locked out of their accounts, and businesses refusing QR payments to avoid a customer’s transfer incorrectly linking them to fraud.  

2. e-KYC and the lower manual verification burden 
   An immediate benefit of digital ID is allowing businesses to onboard new customers more easily, and centralising data about those customers, while maintaining security and compliance. Singapore’s SGFinDex, for example, allows users to log in via Singpass and share verified financial data from banks, insurers, and government agencies directly with fintech platforms by leveraging the country’s digital ID. As the first public digital infrastructure that uses national identification to consolidate information in one place this initiative sets a benchmark for the future application of this technology over the next decade.  
    

3. Age verification 
   Beyond financial services, digital ID is increasingly being used to enforce age limits for digital services by supporting age assurance and age verification. With governments across the region exploring the feasibility of replicating Australia’s under-16 social media ban, digital ID represents an attractive option to verify users’ age. Malaysia has committed to using MyDigitaID-based verification to ban social media for under 16s in mid-2026. Similarly, Singapore now requires app distribution platforms to screen out users under 18 from accessing dating services or adult content, with providers integrating Singpass for age verification.  

The future direction of digital ID in APAC 

While consumer digital IDs are largely national and focused on individual citizens, there are growing calls for regional interoperability and digital identity for businesses. Interoperability is important because it prevents national systems from becoming isolated digital silos, ensuring the benefits of digital ID can scale across borders. While still developing, various interoperability initiatives between APAC countries have been piloted, such as the Chinese-led digital ID interoperability pilot with Hong Kong and Singapore, with the first cases including financial account opening and academic degree mutual recognition.  

Additionally, the ASEAN Universal Business Identity (UBIC), launched in December 2025, aims to create a standardised way for businesses to prove their identity across borders. This would allow a firm in Indonesia to verify a partner in Malaysia with the same level of trust as it would with a domestic entity, helping to increase intra-ASEAN trade and further integrate the bloc.  

Strategic takeaways for business 

As Asia moves to embed the use of digital ID infrastructure, affected businesses should be proactive in shaping how these systems are rolled out and adopted in practice. To manage the risks and improve the utility of these systems, firms can focus energies on three areas: 

• Ensure protections for privacy and security to maintain trust: Mandatory digital ID systems often face public concern regarding surveillance and data breaches. To prevent pushback from users, businesses should work with regulators to ensure that there is an appropriate balance between safety, security, and utility – for example, that there are proportionate guardrails in place around data-sharing and access to personal data by different entities, including state entities. Firms that can assure data security are better positioned to maintain customer confidence as these systems are integrated. 

As our APAC Fintech Festival blog highlights, establishing trust is an increasingly important component of operating in fintech in the region.  

• Advocate for flexibility and hybrid public-private approaches to identity verification: National ID schemes are not the only way to securely and reliably verify an individual’s identity, and policy frameworks should preserve sufficient flexibility for the use of alternative verification methods, where appropriate. Businesses should demonstrate to governments that other methods (such as bank-verified data or device-level biometrics) can in some cases have certain advantages such as ensuring stronger protection for citizens’ data, depending on the transaction.  

• Make the strongest possible case for regional interoperability: Multinational businesses operate at the friction points between different national standards. The risk of fragmenting approaches has the potential to act as a barrier to cross-border digital commerce.  Firms should take active steps to mobilise influential coalitions of domestic digital “champions”, SMEs, economists and other experts to make a compelling case for technical and regulatory alignment. Interoperability offers benefits for all parties: it supports digital exports and generates jobs, it reduces the compliance burden for the private sector, and it ensures a seamless experience for consumers moving or transacting across borders. 

Please get in touch if you would like to discuss the policy and regulatory development of digital ID in APAC and how to prepare your enterprise for the rapid developments. Our team includes technology, regulatory and political experts who understand how government and regulators are currently thinking about these issues.  

This blog was written by Ewan Lusty - Partner, Adam Hendry - Director, and Adam Gear - Intern. Ewan, based in Singapore, has over eight years’ experience in Asia-Pacific and Europe across the public and private sectors on the policy and politics of technological change. Adam Hendry, based in London, advises clients on regulatory, policy and economic issues with a focus on financial services and technology. Adam Gear is an Intern at Flint with prior roles in payments at a bank. He is a student studying a BSc Computational Finance at the City University of Hong Kong 

In Asia-Pacific, Flint Global is a strategic advisory firm helping businesses and investors navigate political, regulatory, and geopolitical complexity across 14+ jurisdictions. We combine on-the-ground knowledge, regional expertise, and global insight to help clients manage risk, engage effectively with governments, and make informed commercial decisions that create competitive advantage. 

Our work in Asia-Pacific is driven by consultants and industry experts with deep experience in government, policy, and business, actively involved throughout client engagements. On-the-ground advisers work closely with clients, providing senior-level insight, challenge, and judgement, alongside practical expertise in key markets across the region. This ensures clients benefit from both local understanding and connectivity, and a broad regional and global perspective.