Special Report: The growing prevalence of digital identities will have far-reaching consequences for the way we interact with our traditional banking and financial services institutions in shaping the contours of customer engagement.

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The renewed investment by the federal government in digital identification presents a telling blueprint for the future of public-facing interactions – one which could completely transform legacy systems and infrastructure, particularly when applied to Australia’s financial services sector.

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That is the view of Seed Space Venture Capital founder and managing partner Dirk Steller.

Steller said the federal government’s move to expand its Digital Identity Program in this year’s Federal Budget with a $257 million cash injection was consistent with the government’s series of “digital-first” measures that included continuing the rollout of open banking and a $19.2 million expansion of an advisory program that helped small businesses make the transition to digital.

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“A holistic vision for data interoperability has been the defining feature of the federal government’s plans to completely reshape it’s suite of public sector services and this is creating opportunities for emerging companies like never before, particularly in a COVID-19 led environment where the shift towards digital has accelerated,” Steller said.

“The sheer promise of a national digital ID framework can also be realised when it is applied to many of Australia’s incumbent wealth and banking institutions. Add in the ability to uniquely identify that individual, through a biometric physical trace or audio footprint, we can now begin to envisage a world where a bank’s plethora of products and transactional services are no longer a ‘one-size-fits-all’ for all customers.”

“Instead, these services are tailored and personalised to the individual, drawing on much deeper data sets that can acutely inform how that bank seeks to target the next generation of customers.”

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