Business Q&A
Computer security consultant Tony Willenberg
Q: How do you perceive the future of mobile money systems in PNG?
A: Mobile money systems are here to stay because they are lower cost and more convenient. Globally, banks are reforming to stay relevant to their customers and this includes opening up their systems to mobile money and other fintech service providers.
Underpinning the uptake of digital financial services is digital trustworthiness. All banks, mobile money systems and other fintech service providers must still be able to identify with whom they are dealing on both sides of the transaction, both domestically and internationally.
This is where YuTru’s integrated and highly secure digital identity will help PNG to leapfrog into the digital age and to capitalise on the new and emerging technology and financial solutions.
Q: How will increased connectivity in PNG help YuTru?
A: YuTru is first and foremost a digital identity that is designed to be acquired and used electronically online and through mobile phone data networks.
Globally, banks are reforming to stay relevant to their customers and this includes opening up their systems to mobile money ...
Its development coincides with the major advances in connectivity and electrification taking place across the country, including the majority Australian Government funded Coral Sea fibre optic cable that will transform telecommunications in PNG, and the domestic submarine and terrestrial network connecting the provincial areas.
As an interim measure, while these connectivity projects are rolled out, people who want to start transacting electronically before they have internet access at home will be able to get online in the branches of our foundation institutions across the country.
The fact that YuTru will be based on international best practices in computer security and cryptography means that not only will it be easier for people to register and transact electronically, but they can also be confident that those transactions will be secure, and that they will have maximum control over their personal information.
Q: When do you plan to issue the first YuTru digital identity?
A: We are working to a timeline that will see the first YuTru digital identity issued on January 1, 2021 and expect that within 10 years all PNG customers will have a YuTru identity.
Until then, we have a lot of work to do to establish the system in a collaborative manner, starting with bringing investors on board.
Q: How will YuTru help SMEs?
A: YuTru will reduce the cost of doing business for SMEs, and they will have access to better information about what their customers want from them.
Costs will go down because the risks associated with fraud and misidentification will be vastly reduced as there is no way to cheat the system. This means that SMEs and big institutions alike will have access to rich data about how people are transacting, but without any personally identifiable information.
Tony Willenberg is a computer security consultant with Neocapita Security, which is consulting to the Digital Identification Bureau Limited, trading as YuTru.