Australia Post signs on its first businesses with its Digital ID

Online job marketplace Airtasker, credit union CUA, foreign exchange company Travelex, and Queensland Police are among the first adopters of Australia Post’s new digital identity service as it seeks to corner the local market in proving credentials when the online and physical worlds collide.

The Digital ID has been under development since early 2016 and will allow people to rapidly verify their identity via their smartphone using stored biometric data and other information.

The technology will allow individuals to apply for passports or mortgage by mobile and Australia Post’s executive general manager of trusted e-commerce services Andrew Walduck said it was now entering commercial use and would become a growth business for the national utility.

He said that it is already working with more than 50 other organisations, including digital currency exchange CoinLoft, and that its own research had found that use of its Digital ID could save a significant amount of the $11 billion that identity verification costs the economy each year.

Online job marketplace will use the service to let its users obtain an identity badge, so they can prove who they are when they turn up to someone’s house to perform a task.

CUA will use it to verify new members applying for selected savings accounts online or via its mobile device without visiting a branch, Checks, while Qld Police will incorporate it into its national police clearance certificates process to be launched this year.

Key component

Travelex’s plans to use the Digital ID as part of its “know your customer” checks with currency transfers will raise the question if it is the kind of technology that could be used by banks to help avoid the money laundering scandal currently faced by Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

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Source: Australia Post signs on its first businesses with its Digital ID | afr.com