About three weeks ago, Rabobank announced that Datakeeper will continue as an independent entity. The cooperative bank thus hopes that its digital ID wallet will grow to become the industry standard for exchanging personal data. To do so, however, the solution needs critical mass. Banken.nl spoke about it with Datakeeper CEO Vincent Kolijn.
About three weeks ago, Rabobank announced that Datakeeper will continue as an independent entity. The cooperative bank thus hopes that its digital ID wallet will grow to become the industry standard for exchanging personal data. To do so, however, the solution needs critical mass. Banken.nl spoke about it with Datakeeper CEO Vincent Kolijn.
It soon becomes apparent that the launch of Datakeeper as an independent company is by no means a coincidence. Indeed, the advent of digital ID wallets is inevitable.
Through the Electronic Identification, Authentication, and Trust Services legislation (eIDAS), the European Commission requires companies to accept digital wallets as a means of exchanging personal data by 2025.
So banks will also have to adopt the technology within two years. As far as Vincent Kolijn (also Head of Strategy, Transformation and Innovation at Rabobank) is concerned, the sector is therefore facing an important decision.
"It is now up to the market to come up with ways to flesh out this legislation. There will be the necessary parties who will try to interpret this. Banks have proven to deal prudently and carefully with customer data and therefore we hope to set a sector standard with DataKeeper and the banking sector, among others."
And so it did. But why is it so important for the banking industry to set the standard?
"First, because it is a role that intuitively suits us," Kolijn states. He explains that customers have been depositing their most valuable assets with banks since time immemorial. "From gold to salary; and now data. We have traditionally been the safekeeper of possessions."
"We believe that by using eID we can remove a lot of friction from customer journeys and create value for retailers, businesses and consumers alike. Furthermore, it fits nicely with the daily interactions that banks already have with their customers and is therefore a nice and logical addition to the proposition already offered."
Finally, Kolijn points out that Rabobank is also keen to solve the social issue. "The digital sharing of data is only increasing. It's up to us to provide a solution that allows people to safely and easily store and share their data."
The Datakeeper CEO emphasizes that the ID wallet - unlike some big techs - does not use the cloud. "All data is safely on the consumer's phone that is currently the most secure technology available."
So there are plenty of reasons for Rabobank to take matters into its own hands. But for Datakeeper to truly grow into the industry standard, the ID solution must achieve critical mass. In other words, the wallet must become popular enough.
And that is precisely the reason the company is continuing as an independent entity and actively seeking cooperation with other parties in the industry. Kolijn points out that the major banks' mobile banking apps alone reach some 90 to 95 percent of the Dutch population. "A critical mass is needed to create maximum value for businesses and consumers, we therefore hope for interest from the market."
"We did not become independent out of any particular profit motive," he emphasizes. "Datakeeper is really a means to a higher end. The technology is designed so that any institution interested can easily integrate a Software Development Kit into its own app."
Kolijn emphasizes that it is of utmost importance to quickly create a scalable solution for the Dutch market. "In the interest of consumers, let's bring a secure ID wallet to the market, banks play an important role in this."
