The South African Banking Risk Information Centre (SABRIC), acting on behalf of the banks and the Department of Home Affairs (DHA), today, 16 March 2010, signed an agreement signalling a strategic partnership that will allow the banks in South Africa to conduct online fingerprint verification of bank clients.
In terms of this agreement, the DHA will allow the banks real time access to the Home Affairs National Identification System (HANIS), for the verification of the identity of prospective and current clients. SABRIC CEO, Mrs Kalyani Pillay, explains, “We are very excited about the prospects of this unique project as we anticipate that it will assist the banks in reducing application fraud and identity theft. Banks have a challenge regarding the authentication of the identity of clients given the scale of fraudulent documents in the country. We anticipate that the project will help with the prevention of crimes such as falsified facility applications and account takeover fraud. The banking industry is grateful to the department for this opportunity.”
HANIS holds South African citizens’ identity documents (ID) numbers, fingerprints and photos. Accessing HANIS will equip the banks with the ability to conduct on-the-spot verification of the finger prints of a client against the information held in HANIS. Department of Home Affairs Director-General, Mr Mavuso Msimang, says, “For us this project signifies our stance, as custodians of the South African citizens’ identity that all necessary steps should be taken to ensure that the integrity of a person’s identity is protected and maintained. This initiative with the banks is one step forward in our journey of ensuring that documents produced by this department are not used to commit crime.”
The first phase of the pilot project was completed last year which successfully proved the feasibility of online fingerprint verification of banking clients; the banks who participated in the pilot agreed that it is strategically correct for the banks to pursue access to HANIS. The current phase of the project is now looking at the pre-requisites for formally implementing and rolling out access by banks.
Enquiries:
Siobhan McCarthy
Cell: 082 8866 708
E-mail: Siobhan.McCarthy@dha.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Home Affairs
16 March 2010
Source: Department of Home Affairs (http://www.home-affairs.gov.za/)
