Multi-country European consortium to launch pilot for EU digital ID wallet  

By Gaia Lamperti

Six European countries will work to bring to life an EU digital identity wallet program by leveraging one of the European Union’s priority use cases – payments. The consortium, led by NOBID (Nordic-Baltic eID Project) and with the participation of governments in Denmark, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Latvia and Norway, is set to deliver a large-scale, cross-border payments pilot strongly aligned with the aims of the EU Commission.

All the countries in the consortium have well-established digital infrastructures and some of the most trusted identity experts. Under NOBID’s leadership, following its successful harmonisation of several national eID programs comprising tens of millions of European citizens, the group will collaborate to show how payments and ID can be combined effortlessly, across borders and in multiple currencies.

The Nordic-Baltic eID project, initiated under the umbrella of the Nordic Council of Ministers, works to harmonise the eID solutions in eight Nordic and Baltic countries to realize cross-border access to digital services across the region. Following the announcement of large-scale pilots of the upcoming EU Digital ID Wallet, NOBID will use its existing infrastructure and collaborative platform to form a strong consortium. The multi-country consortium is also being actively supported by leading digital government agencies, banks, enterprises and technology providers and will leverage the mature digital identity infrastructures of the six respective nations.

“For the EU digital ID wallet to thrive, it needs a reference implementation that sets the bar high,” comments Tor Alvik, Project Manager of the consortium. The consortium’s proposal focuses on payments, one of the top priority use cases in the EU’s digital ID wallet vision. “The consortium has all the ingredients for success: multi-nation participation; extensive digital identity experience; a hugely compelling use case and the backing of the best in the banking and payments industry. We are hugely excited to turn the EU vision into a reality and make smoother, more readily available ID services possible for all,” he added.

The EU digital identity wallet is a biometrically-secured app that, when it comes into being, will allow citizens across the continent to easily verify their ID, access public and private services and store sensitive digital documents in one place. The consortium’s proposal to be one of four EU digital identity wallet pilots is fully aligned with the EU’s key aims for its digital identity framework overall.

Its implementation would leverage existing payment infrastructure to enable payment issuance, instant payments, account-to-account transfers and payment acceptance both in-store and online. It is designed to also complement wider EU plans to empower member states and streamline cross-border payments, such as the European Payments Initiative (EPI) and the Digital Euro. The project has unrivalled support from leaders in banking and payments, including DSGV in Germany, DNB and BankID in Norway, Nets in Denmark, Intesa Sanpaolo, PagoPA and ABILab in Italy and Greiðsluveitan in Iceland.

Technology partners participating in the consortium include Thales, iProov, Signicat, RB, Auðkenni, IPZS, Poste Italiane, Intesi Group, InfoCert, FBK and Latvian State Radio and Television Centre. Merchants that will be testing out the payment solution include Elkjøp in Norway and REWE-group in Germany.

“Although a natural step forward, the digital ID wallet, no doubt, will expand the pool of possibilities to further improve our digital space and allow new products to be developed within the whole of the European Union. Additionally, it also aims to improve our access to highly reliable and secure electronic identity attributes and will build upon the ongoing progress with the addition of new commercial services to the range of national e-identification platforms. When it comes to digital identification, this is a next-generation tool,” said Artūrs Toms Plešs, Minister of Environmental Protection and Regional Development in the Republic of Latvia.