Experts discuss future of digital identity

National Australia Bank

Industry, Government and academic experts and leaders recently joined a NAB- convened roundtable to discuss digital identity.

With the benefit of these insights, NAB is facilitating a journey towards collaboratively co-designing the Australian digital identity ecosystem.

This discussion, held both at NAB's Melbourne and Sydney offices and virtually last month, focused on topics, including:

• Privacy, security and customer centricity;

• Plurality of digital identity systems; and

• Access and Inclusion.

NAB has prepared a summary of the key themes and calls to action arising out of the discussion, which was held under the Chatham House Rules, and, therefore, comments are unattributed.

What next?

Ms Mentis highlighted how NAB sees digital identity as a critical enabler for our consumer and business customers alike.

"We have consumers who are increasingly conscious of the need to guard and minimise the sharing of their personal identity data, and we simultaneously have businesses that have requirements in how they protect and store and delete their own customers' sensitive data," Ms Mentis said.

"For NAB, where we have established capabilities in verifying identities and protecting data, we have both an opportunity and a societal obligation to step forward and provide services that help both of these groups to engage in commerce and communications that are safe and secure."

NAB Executive for Digital Governance Brad Carr emphasised the need for an inclusive approach in our national identity ecosystem, with particular reference to those in remote indigenous communities that may have lacked access to typical government-issued documentation.

"Rather than merely digitalising the legacy analogue identities that we have today, we need to take this opportunity to include and extend our reach to those parts of our community that have not been well served by existing identity structures and requirements," he said.

To transform these discussions into more tangible initiatives, NAB will be launching a 'design sprint' to further develop what a future interoperable Australian digital ID ecosystem might look like, and to identify the gaps in our current landscape and invites expressions of interest in relation to these activities.

NAB is also committed to helping to upskill and grow greater literacy on the potential benefits associated with a safe and interoperable digital identification ecosystem within the Australian community, including in relation to data minimisation, increased productivity and improved access to services.

Read the full summary here.

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