Romania signs Mastercard deal for EU-aligned digital identity wallet

The Romanian government has signed a memorandum of understanding with Mastercard to develop a national digital identity wallet, with delivery targeted for December.

The solution will be interoperable across the EU, in line with the European Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallet framework, according to a government memorandum adopted Monday.

Under the five-year Digital Partnership program, the Romanian state will retain ownership and administration of the ecosystem, while Belgian-incorporated Mastercard Europe SA will be limited to serving as a technical service provider. The arrangement carries no cost to the public budget, the government notes.

“The initiative aims to support the implementation of the European digital identity wallet in Romania, in accordance with the European legislative framework, and to develop a consistent national system that would allow the easy and secure use of digital identity by citizens, both in relation to public institutions and the private sector,” the Romanian government says in a statement.

The news comes as EU countries approach the December 2026 deadline to offer an EUDI Wallet to their citizens.

The digital wallet will store documents from multiple issuers, including university degrees, health cards, driving licenses, professional certifications and transport tickets, enabling access to both public and private services, according to the government.

The digital partnership between Mastercard and the Romanian government will also include developing a national ecosystem related to the EUDI Wallet and supporting Person Identification Data (PID) and Electronic Attestations of Attributes for trusted identity verification under the eIDAS Regulation.​

Mastercard will also help develop and integrate services that include identity flows into the national ecosystem related to the European Digital Identity Wallet and assist with future development. Each of these four pillars of cooperation will have a designated ministerial representative responsible for implementation, financial news outlet Profit reports.​

Mastercard has previously signed Digital Country Partnerships with the governments and public sector bodies in Ukraine, France, Czechia, Slovakia, Panama and other countries. The program attempts to leverage Mastercard’s technology and data insights in the public sector.

A part of that initiative is the payment giant’s digital identification service, including its ID verification service and its digital ID network, a decentralized framework that offers a reusable digital ID.

Mastercard has also been participating in pilots testing the EUDI wallet as a partner in the NOBID project and the WE BUILD Consortium, with the task of integrating card-based payments and harmonizing strong customer authentication (SCA).

In March, Romania hosted a large-scale interoperability testing exercise called the CSC Interoperability Event EUDI Wallet 2026. The testing, organized by the Cloud Signature Consortium (CSC) and Romanian technology company certSIGN, involved 13 organizations, including digital wallet providers, certification authorities, and technology developers from across the EU, The Business Review reports.

Article Topics

digital government  |  digital wallets  |  EU Digital Identity Wallet  |  Mastercard  |  public-private partnerships  |  Romania