By the end of the year, all SingPass users will be automatically enrolled in MyInfo - a service that pulls together personal data which can be used to auto-fill government and bank forms online.

This is expected to make it more convenient for Singapore residents to renew work permits for maids or to open bank accounts, for instance. The aim is for all 160 government e-citizen services to be linked to MyInfo by next year, up from 24 now.

The move, announced yesterday, was described as the "next step" towards forming a national digital identity for every resident.

Some concerns were raised by security experts about data safety, but GovTech, the agency behind the public-sector tech transformation, said the data is not all stored in a single site, and "these systems are safeguarded by cyber-security measures".

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