Markus Becker-Melching, House of Finance and Tech, Berlin
Summary
The EUDI Wallet is set to transform digital identity across Europe, creating new opportunities for secure identification, authentication, and seamless digital services. As Germany prepares for rollout, businesses and financial institutions must navigate evolving regulations, interoperability challenges, and new fraud prevention requirements.
The European Digital Identity Wallet (EUDI Wallet) is set to become the central European infrastructure for digital identities. It is based on an European Regulation. Member States are expected to roll out their national wallets by the turn of the year 2026/2027. As things stand, the German wallet is initially intended to provide core functions for digital identification and the management of further digital credentials. The ambitious timetable and the European standardisation work, some of which is still ongoing, necessitate a phased roll-out. Extended functions such as qualified electronic signatures, authentication solutions and payment-related use cases are to follow gradually at a later stage. Non-governmental wallets are set to launch in 2028. Further details can be found in these slides from the Federal Ministry for Digital Transformation and Government Modernisation.
However, the long-term success of the wallet will depend less on its specific technical features than on the availability of concrete use cases. In this context, its use as a shared digital infrastructure for public administration, business and citizens is central.
In addition to the wallet regulations, financial service providers must continue to comply with the relevant provisions of German and European law on money laundering and fraud prevention (in particular the Anti-Money Laundering Regulation (AMLR), entering into force in July 2027) and the provisions on IT security. The technical infrastructure can already be tested today in test environments (e.g. the BMDS’s German sandbox).
Another objective of the EUDI wallet is to establish a sustainable European wallet ecosystem. It is expected that, in the long term, several wallet providers (one public and several private) will coexist in each Member State. National and European interoperability is therefore a key regulatory requirement, but also a technical challenge. Companies must be able to process the 27 Member State wallets initially, and private wallets subsequently. The total number of wallets available in the EU is expected to be around 50. Lissi describes details on the function of Connectors in these slides.
European standards are intended to lay the groundwork for this, even if practical interoperability must initially be tested on a step-by-step basis. Existing infrastructures and services – such as government identity platforms – are to be closely linked to the wallet to promote rapid adoption. Nevertheless, it is clear that Europe-wide interconnection and widespread use will take time – not least because the data structures of national wallets still vary.
The greatest potential for the wallet lies outside the public sector, for example in the financial sector, e-commerce and digital contract signing. In future, banks will be obliged to accept the EUDI wallet as an identification and authentication tool. Automated KYC processes, digital proof of age, the secure transmission of documents, and its use for authentication and signature processes are likely to be particularly relevant. In doing so, the wallet can significantly simplify existing business processes and reduce media breaks. Data-efficient processes are made possible by the fact that, in future, users will only have to disclose the information that is actually required. Payment and authentication applications, in particular, could be crucial for the widespread acceptance of the wallet, as they are used much more frequently in everyday life than one-off identification processes.
Given that uptake is likely to be low initially, the wallet can at the beginning only supplement existing identification procedures rather than replace them (accordingly, the European Regulation does not impose an obligation to use it). Banks and other regulated firms will therefore have to offer several procedures in parallel for the foreseeable future. Further details can be found in these slides from Nect.
For financial service providers, the nature of fraud risks is set to change. Whilst document-based forgeries are often the focus today, social engineering attacks could gain significance in the future. This will necessitate a more holistic approach to authentication and risk assessment across the entire customer relationship. The greatest challenge in future will therefore be less about initial identification and more about continuous authentication and fraud detection.
The EUDI Wallet is an European system based on common standards among Member States. However, the underlying infrastructure can in principle also accommodate other digital credentials and identities that are not of European origin. It could therefore potentially be used across borders to integrate international customers. However, data verification is required, meaning that the use of the wallet in international business is more of a long-term prospect.
This blog is based on a webinar held by House of Finance & Tech Berlin on 9 June 2026. The speakers were:
Carsten Rosche (Federal Ministry for Digital Transformation and Government Modernisation, Division DS II 7),
Steffen von Blumröder, Partnerships & Growth, Lissi,
Jonas Mendes, Director of Product, IDnow, and
Cedric Boy Beeg, Senior Sales Consultant – Banking & Financial Services, Nect.
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