Leave your ID at home. Yourself, too

It’s a huge issue in today’s digital world – and rightly so. At its very essence, electronic identification (eID) is technology that cuts down on paperwork, significantly reducing the need to travel to various offices and institutions. But few marvels of today’s digital world have had such a fundamental impact on reducing our personal carbon footprints as bank-issued eID, even though it came into existence only a few months ago. A simple idea lies at the heart of this change: make sure we’re able to prove our identity in the digital world. Flawlessly and unequivocally. And banks are the institutions we communicate with most often through various channels: they verify our identity when they open accounts for us, when we access their online banking platforms, and when they provide us with various products. Banks are also subject to strict oversight. The banking eID concept was sparked by a law that prevents money from being laundered through bank accounts and various financial fraud schemes, paving the way for the launch of the entire project in early 2021.

We confirm it’s you. Banks must be able to prove to the government that they have identified and “know their customers.” So it was not much This technological change impacts the lives of each and every one of us. It’s like a little magic spell that miraculously connects us with the outside world: with government offices, banks, insurance companies, and private businesses. But it’s banks and tech companies that play a fundamental role. Meet your banking eID. of a leap to think that if banks need to vet their clients that thoroughly, perhaps they could perform the same service for third parties – the public sector, various institutions, and also private companies. “Banks are trusted to be able to confirm that a third party is communicating with a specific person. So what this essentially is, is bank-mediated identity verification,” František Antropius, a senior business analyst at Cleverlance, explains. The security requirements for the entire banking eID project are extremely strict. Banks must comply with a full set of rigorous legal standards to indisputably guarantee that their customers are who they say they are. Customer data security is also of fundamental importance to banks: a database breach could any affected bank’s reputation. As a result, the banking sector puts a massive amount of effort towards ensuring that their databases are absolutely bulletproof and impervious to identity fraud. “For banks to be able to provide

Banking identity

BankID allows individuals and companies to log into services and institutions through their online banking platform.

As a verified authority, the bank confirms that the ID data are correct or company really is who they say they are.

this service, they must be dead certain that their database, their information about their clients, is truthful and cannot be misused or circumvented,” Antropius adds. And this was an important task without which the digital revolution could not have happened. “Of course, banks have sophisticated and relatively complex IT systems, and they need to be connected to the national identity authority,“ Antropius explains.

This is the hub, the entranceway to all offices and institutions in the public sector. It’s essentially a digital checkpoint where we present our ID and the officer lets us pass based on the data we use to sign in to our online banking platform. But this checkpoint can also be used by others who might want to sign a gas supply or other contract with us. “As a tech company, we’re opening the way for public institutions as well as private companies to get involved in this extraordinary project. This is one of the services that we do as an IT company,” says Antropius.

78%

of users log in to public administration systems via BankID In addition to communicating with government offices, BankID also makes it possible for users to digitally sign any sort of contract without having to set up a secure file transfer system or certified electronic signature.

57.2%

Aware

Millions verified

Interest is skyrocketing. Nearly six million of the country’s 10.5 million people are able to prove their identity through their bank; hundreds of thousands do so in practice. Within just six months of going live, the Czech Ministry of the Interior was receiving more than 1.3 million identity verification requests per month. In effect, banking eID can be used whenever a contract needs to be signed. “One could say that thanks to the banking eID, practically everything is being transferred to digital communication. I don’t have to drive to the bank, I don’t have to drive to some government office, I don’t have to start the car and burn fuel. When you imagine how many miles these verified identity numbers represent, you see it’s a real change,” says Antropius. “I think best thing about it is the fact that banking eID lets you take care of so many things from the comfort of your couch. These days we all have two important values that we try to conserve and not waste: our own time and clean air. The banking eID fits perfectly into this perspective. It’s an efficient method facilitated by technology. That’s what I personally like very much about it,” he adds. Awareness about BankID in the Czech Republic

42.8%

Unaware