Banca Transilvania and Visa announce the successful completion of the first live payments using the European Digital Identity Wallet (EUDI Wallet), a mobile app for European Union citizens to prove their identity online, access public and private services across the EU, and conduct transactions securely.

ID cards, driving licences, payment cards, educational credentials and more will be stored in the European Digital Identity Wallet. Service access will include renting a car, checking in at a hotel, viewing airline tickets, opening a bank account, accessing cross-border healthcare services, etc., in European Union countries.

As part of the EU Digital ID Wallet Consortium (EU Digital Wallet Consortium), Banca Transilvania and Visa are helping to strengthen European identity, joining an initiative that is implementing this groundbreaking project alongside more than 60 institutions, companies, universities, international government representatives and digital identity experts. BT is the only bank in Romania that is part of the consortium and of the working group testing the European Digital Identity Wallet for card payment authentication.

Successful testing of the European Digital Identity Wallet 

After an initial phase in which the EU Digital ID Wallet Consortium contributed to developing the European legislation and the app’s technical standards, the project is now in the pilot implementation and testing phase (Large Scale Pilots), with live payments being made, following the plan of the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union to offer digital identity services to EU citizens from the end of 2026.

The first payment based on the digital wallet (provided by iGrant.ro, Sweden), using a Visa card from Banca Transilvania, was made recently to purchase a ferry ticket from Fast Ferries, Greece. This was followed by successful payments in the form of donations to Via Transilvanica, a project of the Tășuleasa Social association that promotes Romania’s historical, geographical, cultural and ethnic diversity.

It is a point of pride for Banca Transilvania, as market leader in Romania, to be part of this historic project, which creates a common digital framework built on a single set of standards across the European Union, with the same method of identity verification and the same rules for security and data protection. The European Digital Identity Wallet will help strengthen European identity by developing a full ecosystem that ensures interoperability and access to banking services. The initiative will help us be more connected and more inclusive, and it will enhance our sense of belonging to something great, aspirational and powerful in the world.

Oana Ilaș
Deputy CEO, Retail Banking
Banca Transilvania

More and more consumers choose to pay for goods and services or to transfer money by digital means, both at home and abroad, and they want payment solutions that are simple, fast and secure, wherever they are. Interoperability opens the way to such exceptional experiences, speeding up the development of a borderless payments ecosystem. At Visa, we believe that money does not need a passport, and together with Banca Transilvania we aim to carry the digitalisation process further by supporting the European digital identity initiative, an important step towards simplifying payments and increasing the security of transactions.

Cătălin Crețu
General Manager for Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovenia
Visa