Rabobank business unit working on ID wallet becomes independent company – IT Pro – News

Rabobank spins off Datakeeper, an initiative by the bank to develop an identity wallet. Because it is now a separate company, other companies and institutions should be able to work on the app, the Dutch bank says.

Datakeeper is an app where users can store their passports, financial information, work documents, health documents and other information to share with other companies. Rabobank talks about a decentralized safe with which users can, for example, do age verification online, or rent a car without having to physically present an ID and driver’s license. The app will soon also allow users to request data from databases, such as BRP data from the basic register or work history from the UWV.

The bank started Datakeeper in 2017, ‘because we were looking for safer and simpler ways to exchange data’, says Datakeeper’s CEO Vincent Kolijn. Rabobanks quote Bart Leurs says that ‘secure exchange of personal data’ cannot be tackled alone; the app has therefore become independent, ‘as an invitation to other organizations to work together’.

Rabobank says that the app is currently used by car rental companies, housing associations and mortgage providers. Datakeeper is not the only company working on an identity wallet: a European banking association recently acquired iDEAL and Paconiq to work on your own wallet. In May, the Flemish government set up a company, Athumi, to work on such a wallet.