Episode 122: Macao enables contactless citizen IDs

The Macao Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China has been issuing contact smart cards since 2002. The agency decided to make the switch to contactless this year, says Erik Wellen, general manager at Bell ID for the Middle East. Bell ID’s Identity Token Manager is a system that enables issuers of chip-based identity cards to deploy and manage single and multi-application identity schemes. The card has many applications but one of the main reasons for the move to contactless was automated passenger clearance at the border. Contactless enables quicker throughput and transaction speed and also increases the lifespan of the card since a chip isn’t exposed.