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MasterCard-Branded National eID Card Launched in Nigeria

zdnet.com

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Re: MasterCard-Branded National eID Card Launched in Nigeria

#31

Post by jessriedel »

rhodri wrote: post #20
vicpara wrote: post #14

This is a big thing. Mastercard is a global company. In Nigeria, a country that has nothing to loose and some small advantages to gain this may seem like a no brainer. However, if this new tech proves itself reliable enough I expect it to be pushed to many more countries. Think about it. A BANK will OWN your biometric data (10 fingerprints, iris signature, facial signature). Everything. And this is not a governmental…

Don't confuse consumer credit – which is taking out loans in order to buy goods like toasters that will decrease in value – from a business loan – which is a bet that you can add value to what you buy with the loan, and thus earn enough to pay it back (and more, hopefully). Having a quick look around, I found this blog post from Kiva who helped pioneer microlending in the developing world. The answer seems to be "yes…

Your distinction between consumer credit and business credit is not as clean as you make it seem. Your example of consumer credit (toasters) is most clearly exemplified in a home loan. In this case, the point of the loan is to allow someone to own an item and draw utility from it over a long period of time; they could not afford the purchase at the beginning of the time period, but their income over that period can cover the cost. To a good approximation, the income of that person would be independent of whether they were given the loan (i.e. if they had to rent a smaller place).

But there are lots of personal purchases financed by consumer loans that increase one's income just like a business loan. The most notable is a student loan, but especially in poor countries (and poor people in rich countries) there are lots of other examples: Buying a vehicle to allow one to work at a higher paying job outside of walking distance, buying a tin roof that doesn't need to be replaced every year,

http://www.givedirectly.org/blog_post.php?id=284534178491025...

buying basic health care allowing one to stay healthy to work, etc.

Re: MasterCard-Branded National eID Card Launched in Nigeria

#32

Post by true_religion »

TomGullen wrote: post #3

So MasterCard have in one swoop pretty much monopolised the entire payments industry of an entire country? Helping the unbanked is probably a good thing (probably) but I wonder how expensive these cards will be, or will become. I personally would hate the idea of having a "Mastercard" branded ID card or passport here in the UK. Maybe in Nigeria it's the lesser of two evils, perhaps not.

Why do you think its a monopoly?

Re: MasterCard-Branded National eID Card Launched in Nigeria

#33

Post by GeneralMayhem »

pessimizer wrote: post #25
vicpara wrote: post #14

This is a big thing. Mastercard is a global company. In Nigeria, a country that has nothing to loose and some small advantages to gain this may seem like a no brainer. However, if this new tech proves itself reliable enough I expect it to be pushed to many more countries. Think about it. A BANK will OWN your biometric data (10 fingerprints, iris signature, facial signature). Everything. And this is not a governmental…

>Plus, is there any proof that access to credit for really poor people is actually creating wealth? Not that I can detect. It just seems to be a mantra that is repeated enough to be assumed true. It was one of the repeated justifications for a similar card recently created for public transportation payment in Chicago.

I don't know about adding to total wealth, but from a personal finance/welfare standpoint, it's a very good thing.

Access to credit smooths out cash flow, which is the hardest part of being poor. You might be able to save up for something over a month or a year, but what if you have to have it right now (healthy groceries, car problems, hell, maybe even lightbulbs)? What are your options? Either you get a shoddy version that winds up costing you more in the long run, or, currently, you go to a loanshark. If you could just float it on a credit card for a few weeks or even a couple months at low interest, it would be drastically easier. I'm not advocating living off of credit cards - at some point you have to come up with the money - but if it can turn one absolutely impossible payment that would put you on the streets into three moderate payments, then that can be a very powerful option to have, and it's currently something that rich people can generally do and poor people generally can't.

Re: MasterCard-Branded National eID Card Launched in Nigeria

#34

Post by dang »

fredbrown wrote: post #8

More info: "The new cards carry two photographs of the holder, and a chip storing an individual's biometric information including 10 fingerprints and an iris scan using a system developed by Cryptovision." [0] [0] http://www.zdnet.com/nigeria-launches-new-biometric-id-card-...

Thanks. We changed the url to that from http://newsroom.mastercard.com/press-releases/mastercard-bra....

Re: MasterCard-Branded National eID Card Launched in Nigeria

#35

Post by eaurouge »

vicpara wrote: post #14

This is a big thing. Mastercard is a global company. In Nigeria, a country that has nothing to loose and some small advantages to gain this may seem like a no brainer. However, if this new tech proves itself reliable enough I expect it to be pushed to many more countries. Think about it. A BANK will OWN your biometric data (10 fingerprints, iris signature, facial signature). Everything. And this is not a governmental…

Nigeria, as a poor country, cannot challenge the tech brough by Mastercard.

That's a ridiculous statement. Yes, the country has been mismanaged by corrupt, inept leaders for a half-century. But despite their best attempts it's currently the largest economy in Africa and ranked 20th by the World Bank in gross national income (not per capita) for 2013.

Re: MasterCard-Branded National eID Card Launched in Nigeria

#36

Post by placeybordeaux »

eaurouge wrote: post #35
vicpara wrote: post #14

This is a big thing. Mastercard is a global company. In Nigeria, a country that has nothing to loose and some small advantages to gain this may seem like a no brainer. However, if this new tech proves itself reliable enough I expect it to be pushed to many more countries. Think about it. A BANK will OWN your biometric data (10 fingerprints, iris signature, facial signature). Everything. And this is not a governmental…

Nigeria, as a poor country, cannot challenge the tech brough by Mastercard. That's a ridiculous statement. Yes, the country has been mismanaged by corrupt, inept leaders for a half-century. But despite their best attempts it's currently the largest economy in Africa and ranked 20th by the World Bank in gross national income (not per capita) for 2013.

Yeah that comment reads as someone that only knows about Nigeria from 419 scammers.

Re: MasterCard-Branded National eID Card Launched in Nigeria

#37

Post by placeybordeaux »

guard-of-terra wrote: post #21
vicpara wrote: post #14

This is a big thing. Mastercard is a global company. In Nigeria, a country that has nothing to loose and some small advantages to gain this may seem like a no brainer. However, if this new tech proves itself reliable enough I expect it to be pushed to many more countries. Think about it. A BANK will OWN your biometric data (10 fingerprints, iris signature, facial signature). Everything. And this is not a governmental…

"Nigeria, a country that has nothing to loose" Why is that? Nigeria seems to be quite successful by African standards. They even make good movies. Of course not without problems, but they seem to have both spare money and some political will - a very rare thing to have in Africa.

They are in the top 25 global economies, they are doing quite well on a global scale, not just an African scale.

Re: MasterCard-Branded National eID Card Launched in Nigeria

#38

Post by seanflyon »

einrealist wrote: post #10

Sounds like a data protection nightmare. Is there any information about the chip design and whether both purposes are strictly separated? Who is maintaining the ID information, MasterCard? Is a POS allowed to read ID data?

What kind of ID data are you referring to? If when I swiped my credit card the point of sale could see my name, year of birth, and picture I would consider that a good thing.

With my drivers license for example anyone I hand the card to can read name, date of birth address, picture, because those things are printed on the outside of the card.

Re: MasterCard-Branded National eID Card Launched in Nigeria

#39

Post by fredbrown »

dang wrote: post #34
fredbrown wrote: post #8

More info: "The new cards carry two photographs of the holder, and a chip storing an individual's biometric information including 10 fingerprints and an iris scan using a system developed by Cryptovision." [0] [0] http://www.zdnet.com/nigeria-launches-new-biometric-id-card-...

Thanks. We changed the url to that from http://newsroom.mastercard.com/press-releases/mastercard-bra... .

No worries. ZDNet offers more info.

Re: MasterCard-Branded National eID Card Launched in Nigeria

#40

Post by JoeAltmaier »

placeybordeaux wrote: post #37
guard-of-terra wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Nigeria, a country that has nothing to loose" Why is that? Nigeria seems to be quite successful by African standards. They even make good movies. Of course not without problems, but they seem to have both spare money and some political will - a very rare thing to have in Africa.

They are in the top 25 global economies, they are doing quite well on a global scale, not just an African scale.

Huh. There's only one globe in global. The top 25, heck the top 3 or 4, probably add up to most of the global economy. Top 10 - that'd be pretty impressive.
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