Intesa, a Kyndryl Company, becomes an eID Service Provider
On the heels of its accreditation as a SPID service provider, Intesa announces a new customer option
Turin, 11 April 2022 – Intesa, a Kyndryl Company, a company with over thirty years’ experience in the field of qualified services, and Certification Authority accreditation, now adds an additional important authorisation from the Italian Digital Agency (AGID): consent for authentication using Electronic ID Cards (eIDs) for those accessing the company’s services, as permitted by its status as an accredited service provider. The authorisation comes just a few months after its accreditation as a SPID service provider.
Intesa is now one of just a handful of private companies offering services featuring eID access. In fact, with 25.6 million eIDs issued, there are just four service providers in the private sector utilising eID. Additionally, just 8.3% of users presently use an eID to access online services, according to data from the Milan Polytechnic Digital Identity Observatory.
“We are anticipating the percentage of persons routinely using eIDs to jump over the next few months, and in upcoming years. This means that Intesa will not only be amongst the very first eID service providers, but that we will be ahead of the curve. By integrating the eID authentication system into our services, more and more users will be able to enjoy fast and secure access to services. This is a major step forward,” notes Giuseppe Mariani, the company’s General Manager.
By integrating eID into our proprietary services, we will be able to provide even greater simplicity in the authentication process for those accessing Intesa services to an even greater community of users. According to Matteo Panfilo, Chief Solution Officer at Intesa: “The authorisation has come, for Intesa, at a time where the spotlight is directly on eIDs, for which important developments are in the works, in terms of user experience, and authentication channels (i.e. mobile and desktop) as well as new uses for this tool, slated to be available to all Italian citizens in the next few years. This kind of authentication represents another option, along with other onboarding methods offered by Intesa to its customers – a way of rounding out its current range of services”.
“Another aspect that we should not underestimate in the eID evolution, is its integration into the National Residential Population Database”, continued Matteo Panfilo. “This component is a first step towards integration into national databases (which are kept constantly up to date), making security controls on the use of a document that much easier”.
In all likelihood, the full potential of eIDs will become clearer in the near future. eiD is one of the digital ID systems that Italy has reported to the EU. Given the robust quality of eID authentication protocols, and the attendant Level of Assurance assigned, it will be used to grant access to the European Digital Identity Wallet, which will in turn (by the end of 2024), allow all EU citizens to utilise their digital identity in an interoperable, cross-border way.
