Digitization in the Czech Republic has advanced a bit since January 1. In many cases, people no longer have to go to a state or municipal office and present a citizen, because they can do a lot of useful things remotely.
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Identification before an official or private company is ensured by the so-called bank identity. All you have to do is enter two passwords and confirm your identity with, for example, a fingerprint in the bank’s mobile application. The bank’s client service costs nothing. The bank identity has thus become the equivalent of a digital citizen, and banks can confirm his identity to a third party upon request and with the client’s consent.
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“The banking identity will be available to all bank clients who have internet or mobile banking, if their bank gets involved in the activity,” said Josef Donát from the law firm Rowan Legal, who was hired by the Czech Banking Association to manage the project.
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Services available remotely using a banking identity can now only be used by clients of Česká spořitelna and ČSOB through their bank (for details on other banks’ plans in the field of banking identity, see the table below). First you need to activate your bank identity, it’s online.
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“We anticipate that the banking identity project could bring around five million potential clients of online public administration services,” said Jaroslav Strouhal, Deputy Minister of the Interior for Information and Communication Technology.
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You can find the basic signpost of services and tasks that can be performed via the bank identity on the e-identita.cz website in the tab List of service providers.
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Thanks to the bank identity, you can get from the state offices, for example, to your tax office, to two health insurance companies or to the real estate cadastre. You can view your eRecipes, create a data box with a few clicks and connect it to the Citizen’s Portal.
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On Citizen’s portal the user sees the numbers of his citizen and passport, in the case of a driving license also its validity or what data about it is registered by the population register. It is possible to set up a notification on the mobile phone or e-mail about a change in the data in the basic registers and a notification about the expiration of the driver’s license. You can also request an extract from business or criminal records or public registers – for example, drivers can find out how many “criminal” points they have. If they have a data box, they can see the report in it within a minute.
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Thanks to the bank identity, it is also possible to communicate electronically with the authorities under the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, for example to apply for a social benefit or to register with the Labor Office.
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Vehicle register, new driver’s license, private companies
The list of agendas to be dealt with remotely will grow. “At the moment, there are about 225 services available on the Citizen’s Portal,” said Jiří Korbel, a spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior.
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According to him, it will be possible to apply for a driver’s license at the end of March. In the middle of the year, then view the data from the vehicle register. Users will see the currently valid information on each vehicle contained in the technical certificate of the vehicle they own or operate, and information on the validity of the last MOT inspection.
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During the year, there will be an opportunity to sign up for the services of mobile operators, energy suppliers, insurance companies, e-shops and other private companies.
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“We expect that with our banking identity, when entering client zones, e-shops, etc., we will begin to be able to identify ourselves in the third quarter of this year,” says Pavel Kolář, responsible for the Digitization Commission of the Czech Banking Association.
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“The possibility of using individual state administration services on the basis of client identification through a bank identity will depend on the implementation of the relevant services by the state. We assume that a substantial part of these services will be made available during the first quarter of this year, “said Filip Hrubý, a spokesman for Česká spořitelna. “In the course of 2021, registration will also be launched for commercial services of third parties that show interest,” he added. Already now, Česká spořitelna’s clients can prove their identity with Sazka and Fortuna thanks to their bank identity.
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ČSOB now allows its clients to identify themselves not only with authorities but also with five betting offices and the company MALL Pay. “In March, it will be possible to register in the electronic census form for the 2021 census,” said bank spokesman Patrik Madle.
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When banks allow to go to the office remotely
Air Bank: in the 1st quarter of 2021
Česká spořitelna: Now
ČSOB: Now
Equa bank: in the 2nd quarter of 2021
Banka yarn: in the 1st quarter of 2021
Commercial Bank: during January
mBank: is in the process of obtaining the necessary accreditations and certifications
Moneta Money Bank: in the 1st quarter of 2021
Raiffeisenbank: in the 2nd quarter of 2021
UniCredit Bank: in the 2nd quarter of 2021
Source: banks, CBA
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According to Kolář, banks are going to offer the use of banking identity to private companies in the future not only for the online identification of their clients or customers, but also for the need to digitally sign contracts.
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Before a particular bank can provide banking identity services, it must go through an accreditation process, which determines whether it meets the set requirements for the provision of trusted electronic identification.
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The state body or private company against which the bank’s client will be verified will only receive confirmation of identity, no data about him.
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According to Deputy Minister of the Interior Jaroslav Strouhal, banks will not have information on which public administration service the user logs in to using their bank identity. However, they will have access to the basic registers, through which they can verify the identity of the client or whether his information kept with the bank is up-to-date, provided that the conditions stipulated by law are met.
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“However, they will definitely not have access to data in the Citizen’s Portal or the My Taxes portal. The motivation of banks to participate in the project is primarily to strengthen the relationship with clients, to whom they can provide new services with huge potential thanks to their banking identity, as well as potential revenues from providing services to private companies, “explained lawyer Josef Donát. Private companies will pay banks for using their banking identity.
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“The service will be charged for private companies, for which it will be an economically advantageous solution – they will be able to use a proven and secure electronic tool for remote verification of clients’ identity without having to spend large funds on their own tools,” says Pavel Kolář.
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