GIPF launches biometric identification system
The Government Institutions Pension Fund (GIPF) launched its new biometric registration and verification services in the capital on Monday.The programme was developed by local IT company Virtua Technologies and the German tech company Dermalog Identification Systems in Hamburg.
GIPF executive director David Nuyoma said the new biometric system has been a long time coming, and that the circumstances surrounding Covid-19 means that this new system has gained momentum. A biometric system is the only way to gain proof of a person's existence without having to travel hundreds of kilometres to a GIPF branch to identify themselves.
The nearly 43 000 GIPF members must be registered biometrically by February 2023, and everyone that receives support from the GIPF will have to migrate to the new system. The pension fund would like to have most of its members on this system within the next six months.
If activation is successful, the customer will receive a biometric ID card on which a photo and a QR code appear. Fingerprints and a face scan will be taken from the person. A mobile phone app will then be used for identification. The GIPF does not yet have a name for the new app, but will share information with the public in due course.
“Since the GIPF suspects a high number of unreported cases of so-called ‘ghost members’, this system should help us save a lot of money,” Dermalog’s Mark Hoffmeister said in an interview.
The identity card is equipped with a biometric chip and is intended to protect against misuse by relatives.
A smartphone and the app are all that will be needed to claim a beneficiary’s monthly stipend from the pension fund. The system should also work without a permanent mobile network connection. GIPF will set up so-called “self-help kiosks” nationwide to help members in remote areas of the country to register.