Latest opinions that Bo Harald has shared on Finextra

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Bo Harald

Chairman/Founding member, board member

Trust Infra for Real Time Economy Prgrm & MyData,

Member since

04 Nov 2008

Location

Helsinki Region

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Bo's opinions

How does innovation happen?

When we roll-out e-banking starting in 1982 at Union Bank of Finland I used to claim that innovation happens when the next customer takes it in use – on the way to a critical mass of users. Otherwise it will stay as an invention. The key to our success was that - then a wide network of branches - competed with personal selling – pushing e-banking ...

08 October 2025 /retail /inclusion Innovation in Financial Services

Identity is far more than identification

There is still a need to paint the full picture. How identity is built with a long range of verifiable credentials. Often - but not in all cases - starting with an identification credential. 🔹 Identification Identification is the act of proving who you or your company/employer are — typically at a specific point in time. It’s tran

08 October 2025 /ai /identity Artificial Intelligence and Financial Services

It does not have to be an uphill struggle..

It does not have to be an uphill struggle There’s a lot of scepticism around the claim that data flows – between organisation and citizen wallets – will make life and business dramatically easier. People worry that user experience will be poor, that regulation – especially in EU - will complicate things further, and that older citizens will simply ...

07 October 2025 /ai /identity Innovation in Financial Services

Organisation wallets (EUBW): Urgent starting points for data exchange in the Trust Infrastructure

It is now obvious that there is a need to advance much faster – and soon go deeper - than was previously thought in the EU Trust Infrastructure rollout. The critically important step is to take suitable issuing and verification agents in use in public sector units and progressive enterprises without delay and start data exchange testing. The tech...

02 October 2025

It is a human right

It will soon be widely understood that it is a human right to get all the verifiable data you need in life and business events to your identity building wallet. Take for example the life event looking for the next job. There is a wide range of credentials you may need – issued by education providing organisations, qualifications of all sorts, incre...

27 September 2025 /ai /identity Artificial Intelligence and Financial Services

Thoroughly about EU organisation wallets (EUBWs for all)

Very good work by https://www.linkedin.com/company/go-eidas-ev/posts/?feedView=all. Emphasis mine and my comments at +++.Go-EIDAS invites you to expand further. “Within the recent launch of the Competitiveness Compass for the EU the European Commission announced its plan to augment the existing legislation around digital identity and t...

22 September 2025 /regulation /identity Innovation in Financial Services

Global innovation fundament in making

My points in Open Wallet Foundation work: 1. The mission is to get verifiable data to business and life events from all needed public and private sources without need for technical integrations and contracts between the parties. 2. For that we need interoperable general-purpose wallets/agents. OWF SIG task to map interoperability. 3....

20 September 2025 /ai /identity Innovation in Financial Services

About phoning home

Banks are - for their part - moving closer to the Trust Infrastructure ny taking own EUBWs in use and seeing to it that customers do the same - becoming capable sending and receiving veriifiable data to and from all directions. Much to learn still. For example the "Phoning home" challenge and solution is not familiar to all of us. It mea...

15 September 2025 /regulation /identity Digital Identity Management

Zero Trust in Europe

In the EUDI Zero Trust is not a formal eIDAS 2 term but a security philosophy that EU wallet and infrastructure designers are actively adopting. 1. Zero Trust Basics Default stance: Never trust, always verify. Every actor—wallets, issuers, verifiers, and even networks—is treated as potentially compromised. Continuous authentication, authorization...

14 September 2025 /ai /identity Artificial Intelligence and Financial Services

How map the verifiable credentials needed in business and life events?

Back at Nordea in -99 we tested the slogan – Do not serve your customer! Serve her life events! I even suggested – half in jest – that the bank should organise itself around life events – not segments or products. It was too early to get data grouped in actionable ways.. but the thinking was rooted. Now the data for events should be the very star...

12 September 2025 /ai /retail Artificial Intelligence and Financial Services