The Post Office has announced that its new, free app will include the latest biometric-face matching and liveness biometric authentication.
Partnership With Yoti
As a result of a partnership with London-based digital identity company, Yoti, Post Office customers will be able to use a free app that will combine their personal data and biometrics to create a secure, reusable ID on their phone.
Yoti’s CEO, Robin Tombs, says that his company has invested over £85m creating the ID platform which, as part of Yoti’s Digital ID free app, is designed to give users a convenient way to prove their identity or age, and the app already has over nine million downloads. The partnership between the Post Office, which combines the Post Office’s existing experience in identity services and branch network, and Yoti’s leading technology, looks set to give Yoti many more users.
Build Your Own Secure, Digital Identity on Your Smartphone
Elinor Hull, Post Office Identity Services Director says “Access to products and services is increasingly moving online” and “We’re responding to this shift with a free-to-use app that will allow customers to build their own secure digital identity on their smartphone, enabling them to easily control and prove who they are to whichever business they want to interact with”.
Enables Identity Transactions
This will mean that customers will be able to carry out identity transactions such as passport and driving licence renewals without the need to go to a Post Office branch. Customers will also be able to use their digital identity to help them carry out other online and in-person transactions more quickly and easily, such as one-click bank account applications, job and mortgage applications, picking up parcels and for travel purposes.
In-Branch Too
The partnership with Yoti will also mean the rollout of a suite of in-branch services for customers who do not have access to a smartphone or who prefer face-to-face contact when asked to confirm their identity. The in-branch services will be launched as a pilot in 750-branches in July, thereby enabling customers to transact simply, safely, and securely both online and in person.
Useful For Businesses
The Post Office’s Elinor Hull says, “For businesses, we are providing a suite of transactional and reusable identity verification services that will enable them to serve their customers with ease, trust and at low cost.”
What Does This Mean For Your Business?
The Post Office is keen to show that it’s embracing new technology and staying competitive and relevant, and the app plus in-branch services should make it easier for the Post Office and customers with regards to service. For Yoti, which already has millions of users of its ID app, this high profile partnership will go some way further to making it a trusted market leader. The fact is that so many products and services are now moving online (and at a faster rate with the pandemic) means that there is now a real need for a convenient and secure common trust framework that works for both users and businesses. Also, the hope is that using an app of this kind will help to deepen users’ trust and confidence in digital identities which can only help businesses as the use of biometrics for verification/authentication becomes more widespread across more industries.