Kia ora,
2025 is well underway with a healthy mix of activity, excitement and opportunity, Digital Trust included.
We are seeing a major shift in this space as acceptance networks drive up digital identity adoption at the expense of ‘great in theory, hard to implement’ ideas like SSI (Self-Sovereign Identity), or the (hotly debated) need for digital identity itself.
🌟 Member News
The final list of participants in Australia’s Age Assurance trial were recently announced and it’s great to see Digital Identity NZ members General Identity Protocol, GBG and MyMahi amongst them!
It’s terrific to welcome CentrifAI Ltd and welcome back Westpac, making it a ‘big four’ clean sweep, plus the Co-operative Bank (the only NZ owned bank member). See all member organisations here.
DINZ has available one Corporate seat and one further seat on the Executive Council to help with our diversity, equity and inclusion policy. If your organisation is not a member, join and lead.
Free access to InformDI’s 7 Chapters of DISTF, sponsored by NEC and DINZ, ends on 31 March. Register now and join the 100+ that have already taken the course. Want to sponsor? Get in touch.
🌏 What’s Happening Around the Globe
- Australia: Banks are driving easy digital identity adoption across the ditch.
- UK: Government has announced plans for its own digital wallet to mainly hold mDLs (Mobile Driver’s License) and similar government held official data, according to industry comment.
- NZ: Global media pick up NZ news too (hat tip to Biometric Update and Inidsol UK).
🔄 DINZ Updates
- DINZ joined the Minister, FinTechNZ, agencies, and industry participants at the fourth FinTech Innovation Roundtable as we seek to remove obstacles to competition and increase service choice for New Zealanders. While Chatham House Rules apply to proceedings, DINZ has published the paper distributed before and tabled at the meeting addressing two digital identity related challenges.
- Protecting people from online harm is at the heart of everything we do. So, if you attended Andrew Hughes’ DNZ webinar on Deepfakes and ID Verification last month, you’ll be interested in this post as well as mDL (Mobile Driver’s License) with DINZ members Visa and MATTR highlighted here.
- If you missed DINZ’s webinar with Payments NZ on its strategic paper currently out for consultation, ‘Payments for the next generation’, you can watch the recording here.
💭 A Personal Note
As members already know (and later from social media), after three and a half years as DINZ’s longest serving Executive Director, I’m stepping down in the next couple of months to move towards my original intention when returning from Europe – more downtime alongside some digital identity advisory that uses my 20+ years of knowledge and experience in this space. As my time as Executive Director comes to an end, DINZ Executive Council welcomes your suggestions on the following by getting in touch.
1. What Digital Trust related project ideas you have in mind to lead this year so that it can be considered in DINZ’s plans. Sponsor that work in DINZ or sponsor projects remaining from 2024.
2. Are you (or do you know of anyone who would be) interested in the role of Executive Director of Digital Identity NZ? Get in touch.
📅 Upcoming Events
- 4 March, 10am: DINZ Virtual Coffee Chat. Bring your digital identity ideation along to discuss.
- 4 March, 12pm: Worldline, hosted by DINZ, will reveal how it is revolutionising New Zealand’s payment landscape by integrating digital identity credentials into daily transactions. Register here.
- 25 March, 12pm: Save the Date Now! ‘Meet the DISTF evaluators’ (those that are DINZ members at least). Considering DISTF accreditation? This is unmissable. Registration is coming soon.
- 8 April, Identity Management Day 2025: Up for an early start? Join IDSA 12pm – 9am NZ
💡 DIA Training Schedule Confirmed
Identification management plays a core role in our work, and members should have a foundational level of understanding about what it is and how it impacts your customers. Good identification management helps reduce and/or prevent fraud, loss of privacy and identity theft, by applying good practices and processes.
Topics covered in DIA Training Courses:
- Identification Essentials (G1)
- Entity Information – Names and other Information (G2)
- Introduction to Identification Standards (G3)
- Biometrics 101 (G4)
FREE online learning at your own pace. Learn more.
For any enquiries relating to Identification Management training email identity@dia.govt.nz
Ngā mihi,
Colin Wallis
Executive Director, Digital Identity NZ
Member news, global trends, upcoming events and more.
Read full news here: More momentum, greater choice – Digital Trust is getting real
