Like a sibling scrambling to get back in the good books because their brother was the first to say ‘thank you’ at the dinner table, Absa and Discovery Bank have fallen in line with the Department of Home Affairs’ (DHA) ambitious plans to digitise and expand smart ID and passport processes in SA.
All aboard the smart ID push
Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber announced that the two banks had signed up for the partnership in a post on X. Like dominoes, Absa and Discovery Bank followed in the footsteps of FNB and Capitec, the first to join the initiative, which quickly saw Standard Bank join the fray the following day.
Schreiber wrote: “ABSA and Discovery Bank have signed up to our digital partnership model expanding Smart ID and Passport services to 100s more bank branches and digital apps. They join Capitec, FNB and Standard Bank. Working together through tech to deliver dignity for all!
Read More: Home Affairs plans to implement self-service kiosks to quell queues
While there are still a handful of smaller banks that have yet to publicly join the DHA’s plans, Nedbank appears to be the last major holdout. We don’t expect it to be long before the bank shamefacedly joins ranks — possibly even as soon as this week.
With five major banks on board, Home Affairs’ plans to eventually expand smart ID and passport services to more than 1,000 bank branches by 2029 seem a lot more feasible than they did two days ago. The eventual goal is to get every bank branch involved, expanding it far beyond the roughly 30 branches that offer these services, as well as offering these services through their native banking apps.
