The industry's interest in leveraging digitalization to enhance efficiency is substantial. The EU Commission has recognized this trend and, with the revised eIDAS Regulation, is focusing not only on digital identification for citizens but also on corporate identities. In its "Digital Compass for the EU," the Commission identifies the EU Business Wallet as a cornerstone for simplifying secure communication between companies, as well as between businesses and public administrations.
Why the EU Business Wallet matters
The new eIDAS Regulation introduces EU Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallets, which enable the verification of the identity of both natural and legal persons. To generate maximum value, an ecosystem of public and private stakeholders will be established. EUDI Wallets will facilitate the request, management, and presentation of credentials issued under state legislation, providing a central anchor of trust. Furthermore, these wallets will manage a variety of other attestations, such as environmental certificates, Digital Product Passports, and extended identity credentials, including shareholder structures and ultimate beneficial owners. The combination of these credentials will fundamentally simplify interactions between companies across a wide range of use cases.
Built on trust: Verifiable credentials
To this end, trusted issuers create Verifiable Credentials, also known as Electronic Attribute Attestations (EAA), which certify specific attributes of an identity. These credentials are digitally signed and sent to the data owner's wallet. Linked to the credential is the owner's key, allowing them to prove to third parties that the attestation was issued to them. When a service is requested, the verifier (also known as the Relying Party) informs the owner which credentials must be presented to gain access. This can be a specific part of a credential (known as Selective Disclosure) or a set of credentials that can be flexibly combined.
Real-world impact: Rethinking KYC and compliance
Consider the use case of opening a bank account. When a new customer is onboarded, they must provide numerous documents, such as a commercial register excerpt, shareholder structures, and ultimate beneficial ownership as part of the bank’s KYC (Know Your Customer) process. Today, this is a manual process where a customer provides data that the bank must then manually validate. Additionally, it is crucial to ensure that the company's master data remains current to comply with the latest Anti Money Laundering (AML) regulations. This is a time-intensive task that consumes significant resources and introduces uncertainties into the company's due diligence process. The potential for fraud from unauthenticated communication partners is high, especially when identification relies solely on email addresses.
Spherity’s EU Business Wallet massively simplifies this process. When a new customer is onboarded, the bank directly requests the presentation of the required credentials from the customer’s wallet. These credentials are signed by a trusted issuer such as a national register or credit agency, eliminating the need for manual verification. This simultaneous authentication of the business partner significantly reduces the risk of fraud, saving time and resources. Furthermore, the data is presented in a structured format, utilizing rich semantic models and standard vocabularies to ensure cross-border interoperability. Finally, the customer can verify whether the presented data is still valid or if it has been revoked by the issuer. This also enables the continuous monitoring of master data to ensure its accuracy. If Spherity’s Verifier Module reports the revocation of a credential, an automated response can be triggered, such as requesting the presentation of the updated credential from the supplier's Business Wallet.
"At Spherity, we believe trusted digital identities are the foundation for the future of business. The EU Business Wallet is more than a compliance tool — it’s a catalyst for secure, efficient, and borderless collaboration across industries."
From manual to automated: The future of business interaction
Today, Spherity’s EU Business Wallet already builds trust and streamlines processes in areas like KYC, Know Your Supplier (KYS), and the issuance of Digital Product Passports. In the future, the growing ecosystem of the EU Business Wallet will further expand this potential, leading to an integrated business world that renders manual processes obsolete.
Ready to see what the EU Business Wallet can do for you?
If you’re looking to future-proof your business with trusted digital identity solutions, now is the time to act. Learn how Spherity’s EU Business Wallet can streamline compliance, reduce fraud, and accelerate your onboarding workflows.
Explore Spherity’s solutions and schedule a consultation today. Visit our website to get started.
Want to dive deeper into how Spherity is shaping the future of secure digital identity? Check out our recent feature in Enterprise Security Magazine Europe: Spherity: Empowering Trusted Digital Business
