Smile ID Reaches 200M Identity Verifications in Africa, Publishes 2024 Nigeria eKYC Report

Smile ID, a digital KYC provider specializing in biometric identity verification across Africa, has reached a significant milestone by completing 200 million identity verifications in just 11 months. This rapid growth surpasses the previous 100 million milestone, which took seven years to achieve, highlighting the increasing demand for secure and reliable identity verification across industries in Africa, particularly in Nigeria. The company’s recent partnership with Mastercard for merchant onboarding demonstrates its expanding role in Africa’s digital identity ecosystem.

Alongside this achievement, Smile ID has launched its 2024 Nigeria eKYC Report. The report leverages anonymized data from over 100 million KYC checks conducted between October 2022 and October 2024, providing critical insights into the adoption of biometric and NIN-based verifications, the evolution of digital identity verification systems, and their impact on businesses and individuals in Nigeria. The analysis includes both document-based verification and facial biometric matching against government databases.

The financial services sector, particularly banking and lending, has been the primary driver of eKYC adoption in Nigeria, accounting for 80 percent of ID verifications over the past two years. This trend is attributed to stringent regulatory requirements from the Central Bank of Nigeria, including the mandatory integration of biometric verification for financial transactions, the need to reduce manual verification processes, and the growing demand for seamless, remote onboarding of customers. The shift toward digital verification has been accelerated by the Central Bank’s policies promoting cashless transactions and enhanced due diligence requirements.

Nigeria has established a robust digital identity infrastructure with over 110 million National Identity Numbers (NIN) issued through the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC). NIN has proven to be the most reliable verification method, achieving an 80 percent success rate between October 2022 and October 2024, significantly higher than traditional document-based verification methods. The system’s reliability is further evidenced by its 98 percent database uptime over the past two years. Additionally, there has been a notable increase in female participation in NIN verifications, reflecting growing inclusivity in Nigeria’s digital ID ecosystem and addressing historical gender gaps in formal identification.

Biometric verification, particularly through facial recognition and fingerprint matching against the NIMC database, is increasingly becoming the preferred method for secure and efficient identity verification. Smile ID data shows a significant 100 percent increase in biometric usage, from 23 percent to 46 percent between 2022 and 2024. This adoption has been driven by improved accuracy rates in biometric matching algorithms and enhanced security features that prevent spoofing attempts.

“Our rapid growth from 100 million to 200 million verifications in less than a year underscores the increasing demand for secure and reliable identity verification across industries,” commented Shile Owoka, Executive Director at Smile ID. “Our latest eKYC report highlights the pivotal role of biometric and NIN-based verifications in fostering trust, driving financial inclusion, and enabling business growth.”

Source: The Condia

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November 28, 2024 – by Ji-seo Kim