Unlocking the Potential of the EU Digital Identity Wallet: Implications for Insurance and Beyond

The European Digital Identity Framework amends the eIDAS regulation (Regulation (EU) No 910/2014), with the goal of creating a unified approach to electronic identification that functions across all Member States.

The EU Digital Identity Wallet seeks to enhance the way citizens and businesses securely identify and authenticate themselves online, strengthening trust in cross-border services by providing a unified, secure, and user-friendly digital identity solution across the EU.

It will be available to EU citizens, residents, and businesses who wish to identify themselves or provide confirmation of specific personal information. The Wallet will be a secure and convenient means of identification (managed at the click of a button on a phone) and can be used for both online and offline public and private services across the EU.

There will not be a single EU Digital Identity Wallet but rather multiple wallets built to the same technical standards. Each Member State will be required to offer at least one wallet to citizens, residents, and businesses.

Each wallet will share the same user experience and functionalities and ensure interoperability across EU borders for accessing digital services.

Benefits of the European Digital Identity Wallet

The Commission has highlighted the following high-level benefits of the Wallet:

1. The right of every person eligible for a national ID card to have a digital identity that is recognised anywhere in the EU.
2. A simple and safe way to control how much information you share with services requiring personal data.
3. Operated via digital wallets available on mobile phone apps and other devices to:
   1. Identify online and offline.
   2. Store and exchange information provided by governments (e.g., name, surname, date of birth, nationality).
   3. Store and exchange information provided by trusted private sources.
   4. Use the information as confirmation of the right to reside, work, or study in a certain Member State.

Practical Use Cases and Impact on Insurance and Financial Services

The European Digital Identity can be applied to numerous scenarios, such as:

• Public services, including requesting birth certificates, medical certificates, or reporting a change of address.
• Opening a bank account.
• Filing tax returns.
• Applying for a university, at home or in another Member State.
• Storing a medical prescription that can be used anywhere in Europe.
• Proving your age.
• Renting a car using a digital driving license.
• Checking in to a hotel.
• Logging in to accounts on large online platforms.

Additionally, the Wallet will allow citizens to store credentials such as mobile driving licenses, professional licenses, eHealth records, or educational credentials.

While insurance is not explicitly mentioned in the impact assessment, proposal, or supporting documents, potential use cases in insurance can be envisioned.

1. A secure and seamless onboarding process with insurers, intermediaries, and pension providers, including the "know your customer" (KYC) process. The Wallet aims to facilitate compliance with strong customer authentication requirements.
2. Storing insurance certificates in a single location for easy access when needed.
3. Saving bonus-malus statements in the Wallet for easy transfer when moving abroad.
4. Facilitating the secure exchange of health data required for onboarding in health or life insurance.

State of Play and Next Steps

The European Digital Identity Regulation (EU) 2024/1183 was adopted on 20 May 2024.

The first Member State wallets are expected to be available in 2025 and widely accessible by 2026.

As of 2026, public and private services must accept the EU Digital Identity Wallet for authentication.

For more information please see here.

Can you think of additional insurance use cases? Could this be the starting point for international convergence on digital identity? Let me know in comments.