Company passports become “mainstream”
If company passports were the “outsider” last year with the focus on European digital ID wallets, all that has changed at Identity Week Europe 2025.
The discussion of company passports has become “mainstream” for B2B and B2bank cross-border interactions, whereas last year ABN AMRO, The Chamber of Commerce of Netherlands, banks and the tax authority were hedging a small initiative in piloting the infrastructure for business register driven company wallets, believing they could be the top enabler of European competitiveness.
Forward one year after we interviewed Mark Hanhart, and not only has ABN AMRO and the Dutch Banking Association he represents found a relevant audience at Identity Week, but the needle on the company passport has moved on, supporting the efforts to create verifiable credentials in the business wallet to make the ecosystem work. The Company passport and WeBuild partnership is not creating the wallets but the infrastructure outside of wallets to support opening a business account at banks.
The European Business Wallet was announced as a flagship initiative in the European Commission EU Competitiveness Compass 2025 on January 29, 2025, driving business “digitally” and “simply” around EU member states and building the interoperability between digital economies.
Business wallet regulation
The strategic framework will eventually mandate what is expected of each country’s infrastructure for the legal persons wallet, allowing cross-border interaction for businesses and reinforcing the single market.
Hanhart says the timeline of eIDAS, which provides a framework for natural and legal persons, is “clear”, but it does not apply to entities such as partnerships, public authorities, ENOs. A new legislation is needed for the “expansion into new businesses”.
