The year is 2001 and Sweden assumes Presidency of the European Union. Authorities have begun discussing '24-hour services' for citizens and EU laws are being amended to equate an electronic signature with a physical one.
Identifying an entire population and issuing e-IDs is both time-consuming and expensive. Therefore, the authorities begin looking at those who have the largest identified electronic customer base: The internet banks.
A consortium is formed where most of the major Swedish banks participate. The aim is to develop a general infrastructure for e-IDs, which must meet the requirements of authorities and banks and be acceptable to both the public and companies. The hope is to satisfy the need for e-services in society. In September 2002, Finansiell ID-Teknik BID is established.
In 2003, the first BankID e-ID was issued. There is a customer in Skandiabanken who downloads their BankID and signs their electronic address change. Already in the first year, 27,000 people are attracted to sign their tax return with BankID. But not many people in Sweden know what an e-ID is.
At the end of 2003-2004, the number of BankID users passes 100,000. Quite a large number considering that there are still few services where an e-ID can be used. The Swedish Tax Agency and the Swedish Social Insurance Agency implement use early on and will continue to be a driving force in the increasing use of e-IDs. The infrastructure is expanded when Länsförsäkringar Bank, Sparbanken Finn and Sparbanken Gripen also begin issuing BankID to their customers in autumn 2004.
During the May 2005 income tax declaration period, BankID reaches 500,000 users. Intensive work to develop functionality and user-friendliness is ongoing and in November it will be possible to perform tasks with BankID on cards.
Internationally, the success attracts substantial interest and several foreign government delegations come to visit. In 2006, more and more self-service services will come from private companies as well as municipalities and county councils, and for the first time BankID will be used over 2,000,000 times in one month.
The three issuers of e-IDs on the market, BankID, Nordea and Telia, agree on a common meeting place for private individuals and e-IDs: www.e-legitimation.se.
As of November 2007, we have been around for just over five years. Over time, the knowledge of e-ID has gone from being almost non-existent to almost total.
Synovate conducts a survey of more than 1,200 individuals that shows 95% of respondents are familiar with BankID and e-ID.
In January 2008, SEB bought 18.3% of the shares in Finansiell ID-Teknik and becomes one of the largest shareholders. SEB declares that it will also begin issuing BankID to its customers. At the same time, the design of the next major carrier of BankID - BankID for mobile phones is underway.
Among BankID banks, their own use of BankID in the Internet bank is beginning to dominate; in 2009 Handelsbanken and Skandiabanken open up for identification and signature with BankID.
Swedbank and Länsförsäkringar Bank use BankID as a complement to existing security solutions. At the same time, a new bank, Sparbanken Syd, is connected. During the autumn, a preliminary test of BankID in mobile will be started by 1,000 customers.
The big day occurs on April 14, 2010 when BankID in mobile is launched. After years of work, Swedbank starts publishing BankID in mobile for use in the Internet bank. Mobile operators Telia and Telenor are involved from the start. Expectations are high, and several BankID banks are next.
In January 2011, it is clear that Nordea will also join BankID. Before that, 3.8 million Swedes have an e-ID and when Nordea also starts its issuance of BankID, 7 million bank customers will have the opportunity to activate a BankID.
The development of apps and mobile services moves at a fast pace. There is great interest from the market in a mobile e-ID. In June 2011, Mobilt BankID for mobile phones and tablets will be launched, and will continue the development that began with BankID in mobile.
The banks' new mobile service Swish will be launched in December 2012 and will quickly be a success. Mobile BankID is used as a security method.
Mobile BankID is rapidly climbing in popularity and just a year later all connected banks issue Mobile BankID, and it is used in most Internet and mobile banks.
In 2014, 2015 and 2016, the number of individuals who have a BankID of some type is growing, and this is mainly due to mobile BankID increasing.
More banks are becoming issuers, such as Ålandsbanken and ICA Banken. 90% of the population aged 20-40 have at least one BankID, with Mobile BankID as the dominant carrier. In 2015, the billion barrier was broken, with more than one billion transactions made with BankID. Most internet and mobile banks, financial companies and payment solutions as well as state and municipal e-services are users of BankID and today we have 8 million users.
