Norwegian BankID parent targets European expansion with acquisition

BankAxept AS, the operator of Norway’s largest digital identity BankID, is expanding its footprint in Europe. The company has acquired Criipto ApS, a Copenhagen-headquartered firm that helps businesses integrate electronic identities.

Along with BankID in Norway and Sweden, Criipto is an official provider of eID solutions such as Trust Network (FTN) in Finland and MitID in Denmark. With Criipto as its new subsidiary, BankAxept will be able to offer BankID services directly to businesses instead of a network of resellers.

With its new acquisition, BankAxept also hopes to expand digital identity offerings to banks, governments and businesses just as the European Union is working on making digital identities mandatory in all its states.

“Our ambition is to participate in the international growth of the eID sector,” says Øyvind Westby Brekke, CEO of BankID BankAxept. “Criipto has a unique and developer-friendly integration platform, offering a range of European digital identities.”

BankID is an electronic identity with biometric authentication developed by Norwegian banks that serves 4.5 million citizens in the country. The fast adoption of the solution has contributed to the Nordics region’s reputation as a success story in the global digital ID industry.

“The Nordic region has every opportunity to lead the way in the market for digital identity solutions – we have the experience and the technology,” says Niels Flensted-Jensen, CEO of Criipto.

BankAxept is the national payment system in Norway. Aside from the digital ID, it also offers payments, Know Your Customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) solutions.

Article Topics

BankID (Norway)  |  Criipto  |  digital ID  |  e-ID  |  Europe