Iconic Australian brands team up to trial eftpos digital identity andpayments solution
eftpos today announced it is working with one of Australia’s best knownbrands, Australia Post, to pilot a new way of securely identifying consumersmaking payments in the digital world.
The eftpos digital identity solution, currently dubbed connectID powered byeftpos , aims to help Australian consumers protect their identities, avoidfraud and safely connect with merchants and government services using theubiquitous eftpos payments network.
eftpos CEO Stephen Benton said the company was partnering with Australia Postto trial connectID.
Mr Benton said connectID used eftpos like a “broker” between identityproviders such as Australia Post and merchants or government departments thatneed to verify who they are dealing with when making payments online.
“It’s great to have other iconic Australian brands like Australia Post onboardto trial this identity solution, which fills an important gap in the market ata time when Australians are going online to transact more often following theCOVID-19 pandemic,” Mr Benton said.
“We are collaboratively working with businesses, online merchants, banks andother identity providers with a view to building identity into our nationalpayments infrastructure for all Australians and Australian businesses beforethe end of the year.”
Mr Benton said eftpos had been working with almost 20 businesses across thecountry on the c onnectID Proof of Concept since early in the year and wasnow ready to move to the next stage.
He added the solution could be used to verify a consumer’s identity for arange of different reasons such as proof of age, address details, or bankaccount information. This could be used to identify individuals for eCommercetransactions, or to ensure government payments are made to the right personduring crisis situations like a bushfire – with the potential to transfer themoney much faster than existing arrangements allow.
Australia Post’s Head of Digital ID, Ms Margo Stephen said: “We’re reallyexcited to be working with eftpos to grow both the awareness and adoption ofdigital identity in Australia.
“This collaboration has enabled eftpos to prove out its model rapidly byleveraging our existing, interoperable technology. In turn, eftpos’ connectID,will offer even more places for those with an Australia Post Digital iD ontheir smartphone, to prove who they are when interacting online with bothbusiness and government.”
Interoperability is key to the connectID solution. It is designed to workwithin the Federal Government’s Trusted Digital Identity Framework (TDIF) andthe industry’s TrustID framework, as well as emerging international standards.
“This is an exciting development because connectID reinforces eftpos as animportant player in the digital ecosystem as a central identity broker forAustralia and leveraging our payment network rails,” Mr Benton said.
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