The move also looks to counter global digital wallets offered by Apple, Alphabet unit Google, Thales, and other financial institutions which have raised privacy concerns
In a move to counter global digital wallets offered by Apple, Alphabet unit Google, Thales, and other financial institutions which have raised privacy and data protection concerns in Europe, the European Commission plans to launch home-grown digital identity wallets to allow Europeans to access public and private services.
The use of online services in Europe has swelled many times following the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak last year. The new digital identity wallet “can be used anywhere in the EU to identify and authenticate for access to services in the public and private sectors, allowing citizens to control what data is communicated and how it is used,” a Commission document showed.
The wallet will also enable qualified electronic signatures that can facilitate political participation, the 73-page document said. The adoption of an electronic wallet could also generate as much as 9.6 billion euros ($11.7 billion) in benefits for the EU and create as many as 27,000 jobs over a five-year period, the document said.
Advertisement
EVENT
Saksham Bharat 2026
A multi-stakeholder dialogue on skilling gap in Cybersecurity, Data Resilience and AI — and the roadmap to a Saksham Bharat.
Infosec Reimagined 2026 is the premier information security summit where top leaders—CISOs, CROs, CIOs, CTOs and risk executives—converge to redefine cyber resilience.
Digital Senate is a premier conference uniting government leaders, technologists and innovators to share ideas, success stories and strategies on digital governance, public sector transformation, cybersecurity and emerging technologies in India.
CIO Prism unites forward-thinking technology leaders to exchange transformative insights, shape digital strategies, and foster innovation, empowering enterprises to excel in an era of rapid technological change.
By reducing emissions related to public services, the e-wallet could also have a positive environmental impact, the document said. Currently, 14 EU countries have their own digital identity schemes, of which only 7 are mobile apps.
Tech Observer Desk at TechObserver.in is a team of technology reporters led by a senior editor who brings latest updates and developments from the world of technology.
Veeam Software CEO Anand Eswaran says zero-trust security models built for human users have broken down as autonomous AI agents move inside enterprises at machine speed, and that recovery, identity and data governance can no longer be treated as separate problems.
