TCS to build command center for Norway’s digital ID and payments infrastructure

Financial services customers in Norway are set to have a new user experience after BankID BankAxept, the country’s payments and digital ID platform, partnered with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to manage the former’s digital ID verification infrastructure.

TCS says in a press release that per the deal, it will make available a dedicated operations command center that will enable BankID BankAxept to properly manage and secure its important payments system.

To be located in the capital Oslo, the facility will operate 24/7 to respond to situations such as service disruption, security issues, or client requests that are related to Norway’s essential national payments and electronic identity verification architecture.

The move, the release adds, is in line with new digital ID authentication novelties that require BankID, on which about 90 percent of Norwegians depend for various uses, to provide compliant and secure services. BankID is a digital ID solution used by private individuals, banks, government establishments and private enterprises in Norway.

“BankID is currently used by 4.4 million users across Norway, and BankAxept handles approximately 8 out of 10 in-store payments. Any downtime of these systems will have a severe impact on the country’s public institutions, businesses and citizens,” said BankID BankAxept CEO Øyvind Westby Brekke.

“We turned to TCS as a trusted technology partner to build a mission critical command center that will quickly help us resolve any technical issues or disruption to services, and this will ensure the resilience and reliability of Norway’s vital financial services infrastructure.”

Also commenting on the partnership, Hemakiran Gupta, TCS head of banking, financial services and insurance for continental Europe, says: “Our operations command center will enhance the security, reliability, and resilience of the national payments and electronic identification infrastructure that underpins Norway’s banking and financial services ecosystem, while supporting new innovative services from ecosystem partners.”

“This latest partnership in Scandinavia adds to the long list of nationally significant market infrastructure institutions across the world who view TCS as a preferred partner in their growth and transformation initiatives.”

The operations and command center will have a monitoring system with predictive and preventive capabilities for situations that could have a huge negative impact on the payments ecosystem. It can also be integrated with other systems for value-added services, the partners say.

Last year, Norway talked of its plans to replace the BankID with biometric mobile apps to improve security in financial transactions.

Article Topics

BankID (Norway)  |  biometrics  |  digital identity  |  Norway  |  payments  |  Tata Consultancy Services