Digital identity has long been discussed within financial services, but over the past year it has moved firmly into the operational core of global trade.

A wave of pilots across customs agencies, port authorities, and logistics platforms is beginning to show how secure digital identities, for businesses, individuals, and even documents, can transform the speed, accuracy, and security of cross-border commerce.

At the centre of this movement is the EU Digital Identity Wallet, which recently advanced from testing to early implementation. The EU's large-scale pilots (LSPs), including the Potential LSP involving more than 150 public and private entities, demonstrated that a portable, verifiable digital identity can be used across borders for services including financial onboarding, licensing, and trade-related attestations.

Under the revised eIDAS regulation, all EU Member States must issue a compliant digital identity wallet by December 2026, and financial institutions, payment providers, and selected regulated entities must be able to accept such credentials by December 2027. This is no longer a conceptual step but a regulatory requirement shaping how identity will be verified in trade finance and customs contexts.

The UK is also accelerating its approach, with digital identity oversight formally moved to the Cabinet Office and expanded work underway on a national digital-ID framework to complement the Electronic Trade Documents Act (ETDA). A recent industry update notes the UK's intention to develop a more unified and government-backed system to support services including trade, logistics, and cross-border compliance.

These developments are not occurring in isolation.

Port communities and customs authorities are increasingly linking digital identity capabilities with digital trade documents such as electronic bills of lading, commercial certificates, and regulatory filings. This is the foundation for what are now being referred to as trusted digital trade corridors, routes where data, identity, and documents are verified electronically from origin to destination.

A recent review of UK digital trade corridors describes how port systems, e-document platforms, and customs authorities are integrating identity wallets and verifiable credentials to streamline border processes and reduce fraud.

What makes these pilots significant is not simply that identity becomes digital. It is that digital identity becomes interoperable, a mechanism that can accompany a shipment across multiple borders, be validated by authorities, and interact with digital trade documents in real time. In practice, this means faster clearance, reduced documentation errors, and a stronger chain of trust throughout the logistics cycle.

There is still uneven progress across jurisdictions, and SMEs may face adoption challenges. Yet the direction of travel is unmistakable. As digital identity frameworks converge with e-document platforms, cross-border trade is beginning to shift from slow and paper-bound to secure, data-driven, and legally recognised.

For banks and corporates, digital identity readiness is becoming a strategic capability. The question is no longer whether this transition will reshape global trade, but how quickly firms are prepared to adapt.

Further information:

https://www.digital-identity-wallet.eu/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Potential-Final-Press-Release.docx.pdf

https://www.arthurcox.com/knowledge/the-eu-digital-identity-wallet-what-companies-need-to-know

https://www.thinkdigitalpartners.com/news/2025/10/27/digital-identity-global-roundup-240

https://www.customs-declarations.uk/from-paper-to-pixels-how-the-uks-digital-trade-corridors-and-electronic-trade-documents-are-changing-cross-border-commerce

This article represents the views of the author and not necessarily those of the ICC.