Ligital identities are one of the pillars of the digitization of our daily lives. Tomorrow, with the European Commission’s new eIDAS 2.0 regulation, everyone will be able to register their digital identity on their smartphone and use it in a few clicks intuitively anywhere in the European Union (EU) and in many use cases: opening a bank account, renting a car or an electric scooter, online games, consulting your medical file, etc. However, while the entry into force of eIDAS 2.0 is expected in the next few years, several European countries have already adopted digital identity strategies.
In 2017, the main Belgian banks and telecommunications companies formed a consortium and launched the mobile application Itsme. Adopted today by 80% of the Belgian population, used by more than 1,000 public sector platforms and more than 250 companies, Itsme makes it possible to identify oneself via a mobile, to sign all kinds of documents (employment contracts , leases, etc.) and used in many applications related to finance and telecommunications. The confidence of Belgian citizens in the banking and telecommunications sectors, as well as an optimal user experience, explain its success.
The Belgian government has also introduced the MyID identity wallet. be as a state solution, digital version of the national identity card which can be used for administrative procedures (application for driving license, building permit, etc.). Developed in compliance with the eIDAS 2.0 regulation and deployed in 2023, MyID. be should come complete Itsme, or, according to the wishes of the Belgian State, replace it. But one can wonder why a solution already largely acclaimed by the public would find itself ousted, rather than bringing the necessary changes to it, at the risk of losing the massive support of the population.
In front of social networks
The largest Swedish and Danish banks created a consortium in the early 2000s to develop the BankID platform. Three years later, in 2003, under the impetus of the government and with the development of an appropriate legal framework, a first version of the solution was available. Enhanced over time, this platform is now the most used application by Swedes (80% used it in 2018), ahead of all social networks.
The close collaboration between the State, the banks and the private sector explains this success. Over the years, all the participants have been able to share their know-how and their experiences, enough to develop a wide variety of uses: management of credit cards, bank accounts, public sector services, access to medical data, signature contracts, etc. Their pragmatic approach of using existing infrastructure also facilitated implementation. This particularly effective public-private partnership could serve as a model for other uses, outside the financial sector.
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