Signicat has partnered with the SEPA specialist Twikey to make it easier for customers in Belgium and the Netherlands to authorize recurring payments. The partnership leverages Signicat’s secure e-signature technology, and allows for the creation of payment agreements that are compliant with Single European Payment Area (SEPA) mandates.

The SEPA mandate is an authorization tool used for recurring payments like rent and utilities, and traditionally requires a paper document and a trip to the bank. Thanks to the agreement with Signicat, Twikey customers will now be able digitize the entire process.

“With Signicat, our customers have the ability to digitally sign the lease contracts with iDIN, so that they no longer have to print, sign with pen, scan and e-mail the contracts,” said Friesland Lease and Leasefiets Project Leader Gilbert Hageman. “This is a very efficient process, where we also know for sure that the right person has signed.”

The Signicat utility is expected to save time for consumers and improve sales and cash flow for the businesses that are authorized to receive payments.

“Despite waves of investment, there is still a long way to go to digitize the identification, authentication and building of trust between consumers and businesses,” said Signicat CEO Gunnar Nordseth. “By working with Twikey, we can offer a streamlined solution to the market where businesses are able to identify who they are dealing with online, build the mutual trust and get an e-mandate for ongoing payments with their customers.”

The news comes shortly after Signicat partnered with Swisscom to add Qualified Electronic Signature capabilities to its Digital Identity Platform. Signicat has spent the past few months working to make its technology more user-friendly, most notably with the acquisition of the API solutions provider Idfy and the subsequent launch of a new API in October.   

The company has also released a report that found that more than half of all consumers will abandon an onboarding process that takes longer than 14 minutes and 20 seconds.