NAB welcomes consultation on the Government’s Digital ID bill, bringing greater privacy ease and access to Australians

National Australia Bank

NAB today welcomed the announcement by the Government to begin consultation on a draft Digital ID bill, an important milestone in advancing the Australian Digital Identity ecosystem.

Brad Carr, NAB Executive Digital Governance, said: “The over-sharing and over-collection of personal identity data, such as copies of passports and driver’s licenses, is feeding opportunities for identity theft, impersonation, and social engineering. It is crucial that we all – in collaboration with government and industry – step forward to help stem that flow.  NAB is highly focused on this, both to help protect our consumer customers, and to enable our business customers with solutions that can reduce the need for them collecting data from their own customers.”

“To ensure successful adoption, it’s vital that Australians have a choice of identity providers for greater access and convenience, whether that’s myGovID, a state Services app, a bank, or another verifier they trust. We welcome the Government’s vision of an interoperable ecosystem with public and private sector providers, and offering this choice will be crucial in supporting Australians.”

“We encourage the Government to ensure choice is brought sooner and enable the use of private sector digital ID solutions to support interoperability from the outset, so that we can collectively bring the privacy and security benefits to Australians as early as possible.”

NAB has worked closely with Australian Payments Plus (AP+) to support ConnectID, a digital identity solution, due to launch in 2023.

“We’re excited to give customers added convenience when verifying their identity online. This will make life easier for our customers, giving them full control in what they share, how they share it and with whom. This will help our customers protect themselves from the ever-evolving threats of cyber crime,” says Mr Carr.

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