Signicat delivers onboarding for German digital identity card, IDnow joins EU standards taskforce

Signicat’s digital identity verification and authentication technology has been certified to be integrated with nPA, Germany’s new national digital identity card, to improve digital customer onboarding, the company’s Regional Marketing Manager Beatrice von der Brüggen announced in a post.

German citizens and residents will receive nPA national identity cards which the company assures meet verification requirements of the European eIDAS regulation and are widely accepted in the EU. Since 2017, cards issued in Germany have been linked to an electronic identity, and it is expected that 95 percent of the people in Germany will have a nPA by 2027.

Regulated industries or organizations in need of a fraud mitigation strategy can partner with Signicat to optimize digital customer onboarding and secure local recurring authentication requirements.

The approval qualifies Signicat to read identity card data as a service provider, meaning users can perform digital onboarding by holding an nPA card to an NFC-reading device such as a smartphone.

“As one of only a few companies authorized to read nPA identity data—and the first international provider—we can provide our customers with digital onboarding solutions that combine maximum convenience and robust security,” said Asger Hattel, Signicat CEO, in a prepared statement. “This certification not only means that we can serve customers in Germany in need of our identity offerings, but also our existing customers now have a partner to help them expand into Germany.”

Signicat’s product portfolio is compliant with German guidelines and European eIDAS regulation. Its Digital Identity Platform can be tailored to customer needs in different industries.

Signicat is part of the European taskforce to standardize digital identity proofing.

IDnow joins European taskforce

IDnow has also joined the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) taskforce to work on new standards and guidelines for electronic signatures and related trust services, the company announced.

Part of the Special Task Force 588, project work started in April 2020 and will be integrated in the drafting of the ETSI technical standard 119 461 on ESI by July 2021. The standards can be used as guidelines for Know Your Customer (KYC) benchmarks and eIDs.

“We are pleased to support the working group and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute with our knowledge,” says Rayissa Armata, Head of Regulatory Affairs at IDnow, in a prepared statement. “IDnow has been working with customers from different European countries since 2014 and we know the market and its development very well.”

Rayissa Armata, Head of Regulatory Affairs at IDnow and Armin Bauer, CTO and Co-Founder of IDnow will be part of the taskforce, led by Sylvie Lacroix of Sealed.

IDnow has reported a 26.8 percent spike in digital verification following the coronavirus outbreak. The company has recently submitted a proposal to the UK government for biometric “immunity passports” to trace COVID-19 infections.

Article Topics

authentication  |  biometrics  |  digital identity  |  e-ID  |  EU  |  Germany  |  identity verification  |  IDnow  |  Signicat  |  standards