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Watch and Pray

The Endgame of “Financial Inclusion” Part 2: Banking


The invention of banking was introduced before coinage. The latter was first produced in Lydia, western Turkey, over 2500 years ago, 6th century BC.

However, the idea of banks began long ago in Babylon. In those days moneylenders made loans to people. Darius 1 or Darius the Great, a Persian king, introduced a new universal currency, the daric, sometime before 500 BCE. Darius used the coinage system as a transnational currency to regulate trade and commerce throughout his empire. The daric was also recognized beyond the borders of the empire, in places such as Celtic Central Europe and Eastern Europe. In Greece and Rome banks made loans and accepted deposits. They also changed money. We see evidence of this in Matthew 21:12 “Then Jesus went into the temple of God (Jerusalem) and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.”

According to an article by Victor Labate, writing for the Ancient History Encyclopedia, Romans, (emphasis mine) “great builders and administrators in their own right, took banking out of the temples and formalized it within distinct buildings. During this time, moneylenders still profited, as loan sharks do today, but most legitimate commerce — and almost all governmental spending — involved the use of an institutional bank.

Julius Caesar, in one of the edicts changing Roman law after his takeover, gives the first example of allowing bankers to confiscate land in lieu of loan payments. This was a monumental shift of power in the relationship of creditor and debtor, as landed noblemen were untouchable through most of history, passing debts off to descendants until either the creditor's or debtor's lineage died out.

The Roman Empire eventually crumbled, but some of its banking institutions lived on in the form of the papal bankers that emerged in the Holy Roman Empire, and with the Knights Templar during the Crusades. Small-time moneylenders that competed with the church were often denounced for usury.”

From Worldwide Banking to Cashless Society

When the debit card was first introduced in 1987, the concept of a cashless society was pushed towards every economy around the world and this concept has transformed a lot in the past 10 years. The rapid development of new technology and the changing landscape of the online world has changed, technology has radically changed the way that we live and work. We now lead tech-dependent lifestyles surrounded by computers, screens and Wi-Fi enabled gadgets, mobile phones, social media etc.

The biggest change of all is how we spend our money. The introduction of biometric banking using voice and touch security in the UK, this technology looks set to have a profound impact on the banking sector in the years to come. For cash machine transactions, biometric technology means replacing the traditional PIN code with identity verification, such as iris or facial recognition technology. It’s no longer a stretch to say that we’re on our way to a completely digital world banking and it is being introduced into society through technology and government control. It is worth reflecting on some of the advancements in the last 30 years:

  • Telephone Banking

  • Online Banking

  • Chip and Pin number

  • Mobile phone payments

  • Contactless Cards

  • Digital Currency

Cash the new enemy

In a world without cash, every payment you make will be traceable. Cash enables you to buy and sell, and store your wealth outside the financial system, if that is what you want. This my friend is what is pushing the governments of the world to potentially have access to that information. The potential for this to be a reality is already happening. Under the guise of terrorism, money laundering, tax avoidance and criminal networks cash is being discussed as the enemy to be destroyed.

Biometric Identification System

The UN “Sustainable Development Goals,” also known as “Agenda 2030,” states “By 2030, provide legal identity for all, including birth registration” (goal 16.9). Therefore, simultaneous introduction of biometric, smart ID cards around the world is not a coincidence. It is being driven in a coordinated programme, via international organisations and conferences, led by the UN, the European Union (EU), China and US:

US: E-Verify Threatens Us All - In addition to funding for a border wall and other border security measures, immigration hardliners are sure to push to include mandatory E-Verify in any immigration legislation considered by Congress. E-Verify is a (currently) voluntary program where businesses check job applicants’ Social Security numbers and other Information — potentially including “biometric” identifiers like fingerprints — against information stored in a federal database to determine if the job applicants are legally in the United States.

Brussels unveils plan to use fingerprints on EU passports - The European Commission unveiled technical details of a new type of biometric data to be used in EU citizens' passports. Along with facial features that must be part of newly issued travel documents by late August, member states will be obliged to issue passports with two fingerprints by 2009. Brussels points out that these data (fingerprints) are more sensitive and so decided to protect them by a more advanced system, with the EU set to be the very first bloc worldwide to apply this technology.

Why Is India Allowing App Developers to Use Its Biometric Database? - India’s government is allowing app developers to use its biometric database of more than a billion citizens as part of an initiative called “India Stack.” The developers can use customers’ fingerprint and iris scans to compare against records stored as part of the government’s vast biometric data-collection program, to create new ways to access insurance, banking, healthcare and employment. As outlined in a Wall Street Journal article, the world’s largest biometric-identity database has excited the tech community, and prompted Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates to say India could become “the most digitized economy”. However, privacy advocates worry the program could lead to excessive government surveillance and be vulnerable to hackers.

China Now Amassing Huge Voice Recognition Database To Track Citizens - China is perfecting Technocracy and Scientific Dictatorship through massively intrusive citizen identification that also records political predispositions and psychological profiles.

Biometrics on the march across Africa - Last July, the Payment Association of South Africa (Pasa) published an interoperability standard for biometric authentication on payment cards. Until then, the use of biometrics by banks had been limited to operations in their own branches or for use on their own services. The new standard opens the way to using cards with biometric identification – whether in the form of fingerprint, palm, voice, iris or facial biometrics – across the banking system. It will also allow banks to exchange payment instructions with each other via biometrics.

Israel enforcing mandatory biometric database enrolment for citizens in 2017 - “Israel is joining many other countries around the world which have concluded that their citizens should have smart and secure documentation. With all the attempts by various organizations to steal identities, it’s important to have a smart and reliable document… It’s the right and safe thing to do – there is nothing to worry about. There is nothing more secure than this database. People can remain calm, I can say with certainty – we have a secure database. Everything we do is for the benefit of our citizens.”

UK: Changes to biometric collection categories - Changes are being made to the way in which biometric information, including fingerprints and facial images, are being managed from 6 April 2015. The new rules will mean that anyone registering or naturalising as a British Citizen will need to provide their biometrics as part of their application. Non-EEA nationals applying for a residence card, derivative residence card or permanent residence card will also need to submit their biometrics. New, secure biometric passports in the EU, strengthen security and data protection and facilitates travelling.

Further list of countries using the biometric system can be find here, here and here.

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