Financial services provider Swedbank has launched a new digital identity service for mobile phones called Mobile BankID. The service can be used for electronic identification and for approving documents on the internet using mobile phones. Available to clients of telecom operators TeliaSonera and Telenor, it can be used in approximately 20 municipalities as well as in 490 internet direct payments services. Swedbank expects the Swedish Social Insurance Agency (Forsakringskassan), the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) and the National Board of Student Aid (Centrala studiestodsnamnden, CSN) to customise their services for Mobile BankID in the near future. At present, the BankID service that is available via PC is used by more than 2 million active customers for electronic identification as well as digital signatures. BankID can be used for online banking, e-trade to tax declaration and are provided by government, municipality, banks and companies. BankID has been developed by a number of large banks for use by members of the public, authorities and companies. The first BankID was issued in 2003.
