eMandates made easy and secure with Twikey and itsme^®

Direct debits or standing orders involve a financial transaction in which one person or company withdraws funds from another person or company's bank account. To authorise these debits, mandates need to be signed and to enable that to happen digitally, a strong customer authentication is required. For businesses, handling and recording these kinds of payments can be time-consuming – but it’s a job that has to be done.

Twikey offers a clever solution for automating these direct debits and collection orders that involves less paperwork and reduces hassle for companies. It connects major banks so that they can handle business direct debits from their customers or other business SEPA (European) direct debits. And they can use the itsme^®confirmation service to sign the mandates for those debits with total security. Today, almost all fuel card providers, leasing companies, temporary employment agencies and social secretariats at Twikey use itsme^®.

itsme^® services are compliant with GDPR, AML/FATF and PSD2. itsme^® is also ISO27001-certified, an eIDAS’Qualified Trust Service Providers that offers a Qualified Electronic Signature and a means of identification that is recognised as a ‘high’ level of assurance for Belgian identities. itsme^® integration offers Twikey a Strong Customer Authentication method and provides security to payments and mandates. Twikey introduced its service some 2 years ago to give businesses an easy method of signing their direct debit mandates easily and securely. Today, hundreds of companies sign their mandates with itsme^®. In fact, Twikey reports that 32% of their B2B mandates are signed using itsme^® – more than double that of eID (12%) and print (14%).

Arranging payment mandates on paper is time-consuming and the paper itself has a negative impact on the environment. This and the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns has meant a major shift to digital and e-Mandates. And the use of itsme^® at Twikey is growing rapidly as well: before starting with itsme^®, around 42% of users still printed out a document and then took it to the bank. When itsme^® was first activated within Twikey in 2019, this figure dropped immediately to 27% and, with the growing popularity of itsme^®, Twikey has seen a further shift to only 14% payment mandates on paper signed in 2021.

“B2B Direct Debit mandates are special because they require an end-customer to carry out the registration of their approval with the bank to allow their supplier to invoice them in that way,” says Dominique Adriansens, CEO of Twikey. “If this not done digitally, it becomes a time-consuming process, with an average 8-week waiting period – not to mention the potential risk of the customer contracting Covid through physical contact with the bank. Twikey has created a solution with the banks to streamline the whole process and online approval is key in making it a success. itsme^® is a major contributor for driving a higher conversion ratio.”

In an increasingly digital world, the need for a trusted digital ID is high. “Having the right data, secure login and the ability for a transaction to be approved or a document signed in the blink of an eye is crucial for customer take-up. Safely and quickly. With itsme^® everyone’s a winner” says Stephanie De Bruyne, CEO of Belgian Mobile ID. “Improve the digital experience of your customers and incorporate itsme^® into your website or app. Already used by 40% of Belgians.”