Standard Bank has joined the Department of Home Affairs’ (DHA’s) push to eliminate ID theft through cloned green books, allowing its clients to apply for passports and smart IDs through its app.
The announcement yesterday afternoon followed news that Capitec and First National Bank were the first banks to integrate ID applications into their apps. The department unveiled the technology yesterday morning at FNB and Capitec branches in Cape Town as part of its plan to replace more green ID books.
Addressing attendees, home affairs minister Dr Leon Schreiber said: “When I assumed office a little over one year ago, I made it clear that the apex priority of the Department of Home Affairs during my tenure would be to pursue digital transformation to deliver Home Affairs @ home.”
Under that vision, the department aims to use technology to urgently resolve the many long-standing problems that have plagued it for years, Schreiber said.
The move to partner with banks marks “the most transformative reform home affairs has ever seen,” he added.
The initiative is part of the DHA’s plan to expand ID and passport applications to 1 000 bank branches by 2029, improving convenience, spreading its footprint and reducing long queues at traditional offices.
The DHA’s current bank partnerships, which began a decade ago, allow bookings for ID and passport applications at 30 branches across five banks. However, this approach required the department to duplicate its own hardware and officials inside bank branches, even though “the same secure technology that [had] already built South Africa’s world-class digital banking ecosystem” was available, Schreiber said.
The minister noted “the department did not have nearly enough officials to scale up the project” and this setup “also had the perverse consequence of removing home affairs officials from our own frontline offices”.
The new “digital partnership model” will expand the service to “hundreds more bank branches in both urban and rural areas across South Africa, as well as to digital banking applications,” the department says.
Daniel Munslow, managing executive of group communications at Absa Group, says the bank is “in discussion with the Department of Home Affairs to bring smart ID and passport services to the Absa banking app”.
Standard Bank Personal and Private Banking CEO Funeka Montjane says: “We are proud to be part of this forward-thinking collaboration that will save our clients time and make it easier to access essential identity services.”
In a statement, the bank notes that “more details on participating Standard Bank branches and digital service rollouts will be shared in the coming months”.
“We welcome Standard Bank to this important partnership, which brings us closer to our vision of delivering smart ID and passport services conveniently and efficiently across South Africa,” Schreiber says in the statement.
“This exciting initiative aligns with our ambitions to be a digitally-powered business and would further enhance convenience for our clients more broadly and those clients who enjoy access to e-Home Affairs services currently offered at six participating Absa branches.
“By working with leading financial institutions like Standard Bank, we are ensuring more citizens, whether in rural or urban areas, can access these essential services without enduring long queues, as we move towards a truly digital-first era of public service delivery,” the minister adds.
This is a developing story, with Absa aiming to update the market soon.
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