• Ethiopia launches Fayda Wallet to boost digital inclusion
• Developed by NIDP in partnership with TECH5 and Visa, the wallet uses advanced biometric and identity technologies to enable secure online/offline verification

Ethiopia officially launches Fayda Wallet, a digital wallet backed by the national biometric ID, designed to simplify access to financial and administrative services.

Presented during the ID4Africa 2025 conference, which concluded on Friday, May 23 in Addis Ababa, the wallet was developed by the National ID Program (NIDP) in partnership with TECH5 and Visa.

“We are thrilled to support the launch of the Fayda Wallet, a groundbreaking initiative that will significantly enhance financial inclusion and streamline digital transactions in Ethiopia. This collaboration underscores Visa’s commitment to empowering communities through innovative digital payment solutions,” said Yared Endale, Visa’s General Manager for East Africa.

The launch of Fayda Wallet is part of Ethiopia’s Digital Strategy 2025, which aims to assign a digital identity to 70 million people by 2028. Through this application, users can generate a secure digital identity certificate (VC) from the Fayda ID system. This certificate, aligned with Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) principles, enables secure verification, both online and offline, to access a variety of services including  payments, public services, and, account opening.

The wallet is based on advanced technologies, including TECH5’s T5-AirSnap and T5-OmniMatch for contactless biometric capture and matching, as well as KeyShare Wallet for secure digital identity management. It also allows users to access instant banking services, such as account opening via biometric eKYC and the issuance of a virtual Visa card. The Cooperative Bank of Oromia (Coopbank) is the first to have integrated this solution.

To ensure broader digital inclusion, Fayda Wallet also offers agent-based access points, allowing citizens without smartphones to access digital services using their biometric data, in compliance with W3C standards and the European Union’s eIDAS frameworks.

In a country where less than 47% of adults had a bank account in 2022, according to the World Bank, the launch of Fayda Wallet could transform access to essential services and strengthen trust in digital interactions.

By Samira Njoya,

Editing by Sèna D. B. de Sodji