Smart Nation Use of NRIC to identify a customer
I called my bank to enquire about a transaction. The staff asked for my NRIC to identify me and to access my accounts. In a few months time, they will not be allowed to use the NRIC. What is the alternative code that they can use to identify the customer?

It will be a lot of work for the bank to get the customer to provide an alternative code. Maybe they can use the mobile number? But the mobile number can be changed. It can be quite chaotic.

If the customer were to create another unique code just for this purpose, the customer may forget about that code.

There will be many databases to be changed as the NRIC is commonly used to identify the customer. The work involved in changing all the records will be horrendous.

The same problem will exist with insurance companies, securities firms, medical records, etc. 

Recently, I was asked to create an alternative customer ID for my CDP account. 

How do I keep track of some many different IDs used for different business organizations?

What is the purpose of getting business organizations to move way from the use of the NRIC? 

I suggest that the government should review its decision to disallow the use of NRIC to identify the customer. It is likely to cause a lot of additional work and worse, it will cause a lot of problems in the futures as the customers cannot keep track of the alternative codes that they use for identification.

Tan Kin Lian

Vote - do you agree with my concern.

 

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