European Business Wallet positioned for fast uptake

This week, the European Commission unveiled the Digital Omnibus package designed to simplify the continent’s digital regulatory framework. One part of the package is the introduction of the European Business Wallet (EWB), offering companies a single digital identity that will allow them to cut down on paperwork.

The EU predicts that business wallets for legal persons could unlock 150 billion euros (US$172.5 billion) in savings for businesses each year. But what we don’t know yet is how well business identities will work: The European Commission is planning to release separate legislation on business wallets next week.

Earlier this week, Esther Makaay, vice president of digital identity at Signicat, explained that organizational identity and wallets could end up “very complicated.”

Built on the EU eIDAS framework, business wallets may see significantly faster adoption than personal wallets, since organizations are not subject to the same privacy concerns as individuals. However, the process of registering businesses varies considerably across countries and legal jurisdictions, which could bring hurdles.

“There are multiple use cases, and they all involve data access and data sharing. It’s not so much about identification or authentication,” says Makaay.

The business wallet’s purpose is to “drastically” reduce the regulatory and administrative burdens and remove barriers for companies in the European single market.

Its main task will be digitizing operations for companies, organizations and public administration, which will be able to  “digitally sign, timestamp and seal documents; securely create, store and exchange verified documents; and communicate securely with other businesses or public administrations in their own and the other 26 Member States,” according to the European Commission.

The concept was introduced to the public at the beginning of 2025 as part of the EU’s Competitiveness Compass, a scheme designed to help the continent keep pace with global digitalization trends.

Work on business or organizational wallets, however, started earlier. The wallet’s use cases were tested during Large Scale Pilots (LSPs) by the EU Digital Identity Wallet Consortium (EWC), which gathered approximately 80 organizations, including business registries and companies such as Signicat, Visa, Digidentity, Amadeus, and Yubico.

EWC’s task was to define data schemas for legal person attestations as well as pilot the business wallet. The testing included scenarios such as public procurement, new business partner onboarding, opening a bank account for a business (KYC), creating a company branch in another country, supplier verification in eInvoicing and domain holder verification by a domain registry.

The consortium also worked on defining legal person wallet requirements and architecture and developing the Legal Person Identification Data (LPID), sometimes referred to as organizational digital identity (ODI), issued by business registers.

The business wallet has also been a topic outside of EU Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallet pilots. In a paper presented at the Open Identity Summit 2025, a group of researchers presented how the wallet could work from a technical standpoint, outlining key functions for the digital system.

One of the challenges facing business wallets is that most governments do not understand the concept of organizational identity, according to experts. The EU has been trying to engage stakeholders, including a call for feedback, which closed in June.

The feedback unearthed several concerns and suggestions, including whether the EWB should accommodate non-European entities that wish to operate in the EU. Some companies called for making the wallet mandatory to avoid fragmentation, while others called for a clear demarcation from the EU Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallet, which will be used by individuals.

The European Business Wallet still has many hurdles ahead. These include not just the issue of different company registration processes but also data integration.

One thing everyone agrees on is including businesses in the discussion on the future of the EWB.

“SMEs should be involved at an early stage via pilot projects, test environments and funding programs,” says Andreas Schwab, internal market policy spokesperson for the EPP group.

Article Topics

digital company ID  |  digital wallets  |  eIDAS  |  EU Digital Identity Wallet  |  European Business Wallet  |  European Commission