Industry wants flexibility, extensibility for EU Business Wallet, fears fragmentation 

The European Business Wallet (EBW) should test new pilots, fight financial fraud, integrate international entities, and potentially even allow payments – these are some of the recommendations submitted to the European Commission for enhancing one of the EU’s flagship business modernization initiatives.

Earlier this year, the Commission announced the digital wallet as part of its EU Competitiveness Compass 2025, promising it would reduce administrative burdens and costs for companies. According to its projections, the EBW could save up to 37.5 billion euros (US$43.8 billion) in recurring costs to SMEs.

The Commission has since received 95 submissions to its call for feedback, the majority from companies and business associations including Entrust, Namirial, Mastercard, Visa, LexisNexis and GLEIF.

According to identity security solutions firm Entrust, the business wallet should be established through EU legislation that creates legally enforceable obligations and standards, rather than just voluntary guidelines or recommendations.

“Voluntary adoption by Member States would risk fragmentation, compromising national system interoperability and the goal of an integrated digital single market,” the company says in an 8-page document submitted to the Commission.

The EBW also must accommodate non-European entities that wish to operate in the EU, a sentiment that’s repeated by many other companies.

Entrust also has an idea for how to test the digital wallet: Pilot projects should include cross-border VAT registration, business representative validation for financial services across several jurisdictions and establishing company branches in different EU countries.

Visa makes similar points about the risk of fragmentation and the importance of ensuring broad, technologically neutral interoperability.

Namirial, on the other hand, wants a clear demarcation between the European Business Wallet and the European Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallet.

Business use cases should be removed from the scope of the EUDI Wallet because individuals don’t like to use their digital identity in professional or organizational contexts, says the electronic-signature and trust services company. Drawing from its experience in establishing Italy’s Public System of Digital Identity (SPID), Namirial recommends that the EBW receive a “dedicated legal and operational framework” for legal persons.

Namirial also says that states should not monopolize business wallets and instead focus on oversight and standard-setting.

“Unlike the EUDIW, which naturally involves a strong role for the State in safeguarding citizens’ rights, the EUBW operates within the economic domain, where private sector expertise, agility, and investment capacity are essential,” the company argues.

Mastercard says that the EBW could store verified details such as business registration, names of company directors or owners, tax and VAT numbers, that could be shared quickly and securely. The wallet could also be useful in conducting Know Your Business (KYB) procedures and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) compliance.

But the payments giant also invites EU lawmakers to think outside of the box and consider integrating payment capabilities into the wallet.

“An EBW could, in principle, enable automatic payments of invoices received by legitimate suppliers authenticated via the EBW, government fees and tax obligations, that could become a key attribute to help reduce costs/remove risk,” it says.

The wallet should also be designed flexibly to allow the private sector to add new use cases and functionalities. An open architecture would be most desirable, according to the company.

LexisNexis has a good idea about what those functionalities should be. The company would like to see the wallet introduce real-time fraud monitoring capabilities and regular security assessments.

“The European Business Wallet presents significant opportunities but also risks becoming a consolidated target for fraudsters,” says the analytics firm. “We propose that fraud prevention receives special consideration during development, with robust protective layers embedded from the outset.”

The EBW could also be an opportunity to introduce better structured data, enhancing the detection and prevention of financial crime, says the company.

The business wallet should also integrate the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI), a unique global identifier for legal entities, says the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF). A verifiable LEI (vLEI) provides cryptographically verifiable credentials that link an organisation, a representative, and the authority delegated to that representative.

“This functionality is especially critical in the Business Wallet context, where multiple individuals from a single company may act on its behalf,” the organization explains.

Finally, the EBW should be more flexible when it comes to relying parties and introduce intermediaries, according to Digital Credentials for Europe (DC4EU).

The EUDI Wallet requires relying parties to register in a Member State and to obtain certificates with a focus on the privacy of natural persons using the wallet. This model, however, doesn’t suit business wallets, which require less in terms of privacy, but still need to support confidentiality of attestations.

Relying party intermediaries can also act as “bridges” to existing federated identity infrastructures, including those established by governments and sectoral organisations, says the organization.

The European Commission held the call for feedback on European Business Wallets from May 15th to June 12th, 2025. Consultation on the EBW lasts from March to September 2025. Adoption is slated for the fourth quarter of 2025.

Article Topics

digital ID  |  digital wallets  |  EU Digital Identity Wallet  |  European Business Wallet  |  KYB  |  standards