IDverse, ConnectID chosen to trial Australia’s digital ID for property rentals

Australia’s federal government has selected a dozen companies to participate in a trial of digital identity for property rentals. The goal is to use digital identity and open banking platforms to reduce the exposure of personal information in rental applications.

ConnectID, Equifax, IDVerse, Mastercard, payments provider Cuscal, property management software provider PropertyMe and Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) are all participating, InnovationAus reports. Several consortia were selected earlier this year.

IDVerse and ConnectID are accredited as an identity provider and an identity exchange, respectively, under the Australian Government Digital ID System (AGDIS).

ConnectID is a member in three of the four consortia chosen for the pilots, which are led by CBA, Ailo and PropertyMe, according to a company announcement. Cuscal is also involved in one of the pilots with ConnectID.

Australians seeking to rent a property have to submit their driver’s license and a bank statement or use third-party rental apps to meet the required identity and financial checks. Those burdens will only increase with stricter regulations for the real estate sector on their way into force on July 1, 2026, including mandatory identity verification for know your customer (KYC) checks.  The trial will combine digital ID with the Consumer Data Right (CDR) “to support people to share less personal information when they apply for a rental,” as explained in the guidelines published in May for expressions of interest in participating in the trial.

“These pilots also play an important role in showing how digital identity can work in practice – giving people more control of their information, while helping businesses meet increasingly stringent privacy and security expectations,” says ConnectID Managing Director Andrew Black.

The pilots are expected to start before the end of 2025.

Consumers showed little interest in using the CDR to switch banks up to the end of 2023, but Australian fintechs suggested it was too soon to call the program a failure.

AGDIS is currently restricted to use for federal and state government services, but expands to private sector use cases starting in December, under a phased rollout plan. There were reports in August that delays in the development of the core registers and portals of AGDIS, led by EY, could threaten that timeline.

Article Topics

Australia  |  Australian Government Digital Identity System (AGDIS)  |  biometrics  |  connectID  |  digital government  |  digital identity  |  identity verification  |  IDVerse