Industry engagement and future plans | October Newsletter

Kia ora,

October may bring Halloween, but I’m calling it “Crazy-month” with the whirlwind of activity – whether it’s the lead-up to Christmas or gearing up for the second half of the financial year ending in March. At Digital Identity NZ (DINZ), we’re delivering on the present while planning ahead for an even bigger and better Digital Trust Hui Taumata 2025 in August.

Thanks to the support of members AWS, Innovise, Worldline, and Xero we’ve submitted our input on the Consumer and Product Data bill and the open banking designation rules, ensuring our collective industry voices are heard.

It’s immensely satisfying to see the growing recognition of the vital role digital identity plays in eCommerce and secure online transactions across industries and government. DINZ’s involvement at the highest levels is paying off. Earlier this month, DINZ, our NZTech Group colleagues at FinTechNZ and RegTechNZ, along with DINZ members HGM, MERW, PaymentsNZ API Centre, and Sushlabs joined a roundtable with Minister Bayly. This followed our meeting with Minister Collins in August and focussed on fostering innovation in financial services. Workstreams are now underway, and we’ll report back to Minister Bayly in December. 

With today’s latest news that the Government will introduce a single supervisor and a new funding model in a major overhaul of New Zealand’s Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism, if you have thoughts on the digital identity aspect of this discussion, we’d love to hear from you. 

On the regulatory front, we’ve met with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC) to reinforce our well publicised views on the proposed biometrics code of practice, with media also showing interest in our biometrics mahi. Keep an eye out for details of our upcoming ‘Facial recognition in retail’ webinar on Tuesday 26 November, where we will discuss the benefits, ethical considerations, and privacy issues specific to New Zealand.

We’ve also resumed discussions with the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) to support the implementation of the Digital Identity Services Trust Framework (DISTF). Raising community and industry awareness is key, which is why we’re pleased to support online educator InformDI and DINZ member NEC in offering members free online DISTF learning, which launched this month. If you’re a DINZ member and haven’t signed up yet, you can find more details on accessing the course here.

Speaking of education, we’re also teaming up with DINZ members Spark to provide AcademyEX’sMaster of Technological Futures students with a ‘Future of Identity’ online lecture soon.

For members, especially new ones – we encourage you to stand for election to our Executive Council to help guide our mahi and shape the future of digital identity in New Zealand.

Ngā mihi

Colin Wallis
Executive Director, Digital Identity NZ

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Read the full news here: Industry engagement and future plans

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