ConnectID MD Andrew Black
Without legislation to establish important parts of the system, Australia’s trusted digital identity rollout is limited, but the financial services sector is pushing ahead with developments within the system’s current scope.
Australia’s big four banks have committed to working with Australian Payments Plus to develop its digital identity initiative ConnectID.
The banks will participate in trials, acting as identity providers. ConnectID will act as a digital identity exchange, connecting merchants with identity providers.
ConnectID has been in the emerging digital identity market since last September, when it was accredited to operate a digital identity exchange under a government arrangement called the Trusted Digital Identity Framework.
Since May last year, the TDIF has accredited a number of digital identity providers, including Australia Post, the Australian Taxation Office, private operator OCR Labs and, most recently, Mastercard.
It has also accredited identity exchanges, including ConnectID, Services Australia and Mastercard.
The TDIF suffered a setback when the Trusted Digital Identity Bill lapsed in May, as a result of the election being called. The bill was issued in draft form last October for consultation but never made it to a vote before Parliament was dissolved before the election.
The bill would have established a Trusted Digital Identity System. Without the TDIS there is a limit on how much government and the private sector can interact in the digital identity space.
The bill is understood to have had bipartisan support but it is yet to reappear on the parliamentary agenda.
ConnectID managing director Andrew Black said the fact that the bill has been stalled does not stop participants from continuing to work on the development of the system.
Black said: “The bill enables certain use cases and interaction with government services, such as myGov, but there is a lot we can do with banks and other businesses.”
Banks will use their “existing sources of trust” to verify identity and the service will be delivered through banking apps.
In some applications, the digital identification will replace the 100-point check or the need to produce ID, such as a drivers’ licence, to show proof of age.
Black said consumer consent would be a vital part of the process. Consumers will be able to choose the identity provider and control the data that is used.
He said ConnectID is talking to other banks and organisations about participating as identity providers and users of the service.