Romania has completed what is being described as the country’s first payment pilot using the EU Digital Identity Wallet (EUDIW). Banca Transilvania, one of Romania’s largest banks, and payments processor BPC carried out an in-store purchase that allowed a cardholder to authenticate with their new European digital identity rather than a traditional one-time password or card reader.
The pilot forms part of a large-scale EUDIW testbed funded by the European Commission, aimed at validating how the wallet can support strong customer authentication, KYC, and secure access to financial services. Under the eIDAS 2 regulation, banks across the European Union will be required to accept the EU Digital Identity Wallet for strong customer authentication and identity verification by 2027.
For financial institutions, the Romanian trial offers a concrete example of how digital identity wallets may integrate with existing card and account-based payment flows. Instead of adding another proprietary authentication layer, the bank leverages the standardized EUDIW credential to verify the customer and authorize the transaction. That model could reduce reliance on SMS OTPs and other legacy methods that are increasingly vulnerable to phishing, SIM swap attacks, and social engineering.
The successful pilot comes as multiple EU member states are racing to implement EUDIW solutions, with Italy launching beta testing and other countries conducting pilots across various use cases, from air travel authentication to age verification.
Sources: The Diplomat Bucharest, Romania Insider
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By the ID Tech Editorial Team
