Shaping the future of trusted digital identity through e-KYC
These targeted surveys are part of Fii’s broader Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) Regulatory Programme on digital identity, supported by the Gates Foundation. The programme examines how regulatory and governance frameworks can better support the effective adoption of secure, inclusive and trusted digital identity systems at scale. Over the coming weeks, Fii and the CCAF will harness the surveys to support a comparative assessment of e-KYC implementation, ecosystem developments and regulatory approaches across jurisdictions.
Digital identity and e-KYC are becoming increasingly central to financial inclusion, DPI, service delivery and cross-border digital transformation. With financial services rapidly digitising, the need for trusted digital identity and verifiable credentials is becoming critical. e-KYC offers a strong case for reducing compliance costs by streamlining identity verification, lowering manual processing and accelerating onboarding. It can also improve accuracy and enable reuse of verified credentials across services.
Financial authorities, industry institutions, digital identity and e-KYC providers each play vital and complementary roles in the e-KYC ecosystem: from establishing regulatory frameworks and delivering digital verification solutions, to enabling seamless customer onboarding and compliance, and supporting more inclusive, secure and efficient financial systems.
What the surveys will examine
The Global e-KYC Adoption and Impact Surveys 2026 bring these perspectives together to:
- map the e-KYC landscape including who is adopting, what is being adopted and how adoption varies by region, income group and context
- understand how e-KYC systems function, including diagnosing adoption dynamics, and in particular what drives or inhibits adoption, while assessing benefits generated by e-KYC
- connect and equip decision-makers, practitioners and innovators with empirical evidence based on e-KYC
Pavle Avramovic, Director of Research & Policy at Fii and CCAF Research Affiliate, says: “As digital identity and e-KYC systems evolve globally, understanding shared adoption drivers, challenges and emerging trends across countries and stakeholders is essential to building inclusive and trusted ecosystems. The Global e-KYC Adoption and Impact Surveys 2026 aim to create a global reference point for learning, comparison and informed decision making.”
The research initiative will provide evidence to inform global policy and market development, addressing knowledge gaps for financial regulators, policymakers and development partners. Its findings will help stakeholders to design regulatory frameworks and market development strategies, supporting scalable, interoperable and inclusive e-KYC and digital identity ecosystems.
The Global e-KYC Adoption and Impact Surveys 2026 aim to create a global reference point for learning, comparison and informed decision making.
Benefits of participation
Participation provides the following benefits:
- helps inform international dialogue on e-KYC by sharing insights that strengthen broader understanding of approaches by public authorities, regulators and supervisors
- benchmarks your organisation’s capabilities against peers across regions and sectors
- allow you to receive recognition for your participation
Katrin Arnold, Programme Lead and Lead Economist at Fii, says: “I am excited and deeply grateful to our partners, counterparts and our team for helping deliver the Global e‑KYC Adoption and Impact Surveys 2026, a landmark initiative that offers rare, comprehensive and global insights into how industry leaders and regulators are actively shaping the future of trusted digital identity and e‑KYC ecosystems.”
The Global e‑KYC Adoption and Impact Surveys 2026 is a landmark initiative that offers rare, comprehensive and global insights into how industry leaders and regulators are actively shaping the future of trusted digital identity and e‑KYC ecosystems.
Access the Global e-KYC Adoption and Impact Surveys
Related articles
Finance and accounting
Integrated digital finance regulation: lessons from Kigali
Fragmentation between data protection and financial regulatory frameworks is increasing compliance burdens and slowing the development of safe, data-driven financial services. Learn what joined-up oversight would look like in practice.
Finance and accounting
Where AI meets blockchain: assets, agents and blind spots
An analysis of AI and blockchain convergence, covering compute infrastructure, crypto assets, autonomous agents and emerging policy challenges by Wenbin Wu, Research Associate at the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance.
Finance and accounting
Crypto privacy after sanctions – the return of coin mixers
Crypto mixers are back but different, say Wenbin Wu and Keith Bear from the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF), Cambridge Judge Business School. After 2022 sanctions scattered the market, compliant privacy protocols now dominate.