CommBank to trial govt’s ID data-stopper


Joseph Brookes
Senior Reporter

Banking customers in Canberra will be able to share their Medicare credentials with Australia’s largest bank to prove their identity in one of the first tests of the federal government’s cutting-edge identity exchange scheme.

The pilot announced on Friday by outgoing Services minister Bill Shorten is the latest proof of concept for the Trust Exchange (TEx).

Unveiled last year, TEx is aiming to reduce the need to share personal information and hard copies of information by allowing users to verify their identity and credentials based on government-held information via a digital wallet.

Australia’s biggest bank will trial a cutting edge government identify exchange scheme to cut down on identity docs

In the first test of the technology in a major company, TEx will be piloted at a single Commonwealth Bank branch in Canberra.

“Services Australia has been working with the Commonwealth Bank on a concept that would look to use the Medicare card in your myGov app digital wallet to contribute to the identity verification process,” Mr Shorten said.

“In this test, a group of trial participants will use the myGov app to scan a QR code at one of the bank’s Canberra branches and agree to securely share selected verified information from a test Medicare card electronically with the bank.

“The bank then gets government-verified information—including the customer’s name and confirmation of a valid Medicare enrolment—without receiving information they do not need, from the Medicare card, such as the Medicare number.”

TEx was unveiled last August with a modest $11.4 million investment and remains in the proof of concept stage. It has already been through smaller proof of concept trials at a Brisbane GP clinic and other flagged scenarios include government services and sign-ins at clubs and pubs.

Lessons from the Commonwealth Bank – which counts more than one in three Australians as a customer, more than double the next closest rival – will be considered by government for a potential expansion of TEx.

Mr Shorten on Friday said TEx could transform banking.

“It may mean in future you wouldn’t need to hand over copies of your ID documents for banks to store on their own systems, reducing the data they need to collect. Banks would be able to get confirmation of a person’s identity, verified by government, within seconds.”

The federal government is also rolling out a national digital identity system separately after a 10-year $1 billion design and build, after enabling legislation passed last year.

Mr Shorten will leave politics on Monday, earlier than previously planned, allowing a pre-election reshuffle.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese handed Finance Minister Katy Gallagher the Government Services portfolio, including responsibility for TEx.

Do you know more? Contact James Riley via Email.

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