Globalization has continued its seemingly inexorable march over the last decades. Movement of capital, labor, ideas, goods and services across borders has made the world smaller. International and multilateral organisations create the rules that define and guide interactions between peoples and nations. Parallelly, we are seeing another revolution - the digitizing of our economy at a breath-taking pace.

Originally published in nCipher website www.ncipher.com 

A few years ago, the BBC reported that the power of the traditional hand-written signature was under threat from its digital counterpart. While it may have taken some time, the increasing adoption of digital services – from banking and financial transactions in the private sector, to taxes and healthcare in the public – has led to a significant rise in the use of electronic signatures.

The need for social distancing and the fact that most office workers are now exclusively working from home, has led to profound changes in the business world. While the move to digital was already underway in many countries, the recent crisis has provided a new impetus. Many countries already had the underlying regulations and framework for digital identification and signing in place, and they are finding it easier to make the shift. Those that did not, are scrambling to catch up. 

New digital portal streamlines banking client onboarding while addressing AML, eIDAS and PSD2 requirements.

The Electronic Identification and Trust Services Regulation (EU Regulation 910/2014/EC - also known as eIDAS) is a complex set of laws (including technical standards) that raise the bar for providing electronic trust services throughout all EU member states. This article tries to help in the decision making process of choosing between implementing Advanced or Qualified Electronic Signatures in the context of eIDAS.

This article discusses the benefits eIDs provide for both banks and customers in streamlining cross-border transactions and what is required under eIDAS for identity verification and client onboarding.

In Part 1 of this series, we looked at how remote electronic signing can help banks with faster onboarding, reduction in operational and legal risks and enhancing operational efficiencies in relation to corporate banking clients. The direct savings from that alone can run into the millions and if we account for the opportunity costs of not having remote electronic signing solutions, that cost can be much higher.

User experience is always front and centre when it comes to attracting retail consumers. But what about corporate and institutional banking? Surely large corporations with dedicated finance departments have things other than just user experience on their minds. Are remote signing solutions worth it for them?

If SMEs are the backbone of an economy, professional service providers are the ones who grease the cogs of that machinery. Notaries, accountants, insurance agents, consultants etc. provide value added services that are indispensable to the operations of a business in the 21st century. We touched upon how eIDAS can be leveraged for professional service providers in a previous article here.