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INNOVATION by Susan Muldowney
IN SHORT › Digital IDs present
opportunities for insurers to improve the customer experience and reduce the risk of fraud.
› The technology
already exists and secure ecosystems that bring identifiable attributes together are emerging across the globe.
› Challenges for insurers
include current limitations in infrastructure, engendering consumer trust and a willingness to collaborate with competitors.
Identity politics One of the challenges of digital and remote interactions is establishing for certain that the person you’re interacting with is who they say they are. Digital IDs could be a solution.
U
ser identity is the Achilles heel of the internet. Proving who you are in the ever-growing digital world can require a mix of usernames, passwords, scanned documents, SMS codes and more. It’s cumbersome for consumers and a boon for cybercriminals. In Australia, one in four people has been a victim of identity crime, according to the Australian Institute of Criminology, and the New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs estimates identity theft costs its economy upwards of NZ$200 million every year. However, with billions of devices now connected to the internet, public and private sectors across the globe are tackling the problem through the introduction of robust, user-centric digital identity solutions. Plenty of insurers are getting on board with the aim of improving the customer experience, but as digital IDs also apply to objects and assets, experts say they can help reduce the risk of fraud.
JOURNAL // ISSUE 04 2021 // ANZIIF.COM
Is it really you? Digital IDs provide a single, streamlined way to prove identity for access to government and private-sector services, from selling a property to lodging an insurance claim. They can include everything from bank account details to public transport passes, as well as verifiable credentials, such as vaccination records and university degrees. Much of the digital ID technology already exists in the form of digital wallets, blockchain and biometrics like fingerprint readers, retinal scanning and facial recognition. What’s been missing, however, is the ecosystem that brings the identifiable attributes together. That’s changing in countries across the globe. In Australia, for instance, the federal government’s Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) has spent more than A$210 million developing a national digital ID program that allows single login access to government services such as Medicare and the Australian Taxation
