Bank identity: Banks, ID cards, and the emergence of a financial identification society in Sweden

This article explains the unique emergence of bank identity cards and traces the historical roots of a financial identification in the Swedish society to the mid-1960s. Banks started issuing standardized identity cards as a complement to the new system of paying salaries and wages by direct deposit to checking accounts, and these cards eventually became quasi-official identity documents. The introduction and general distribution of ID cards were parts of a process whereby wage earners became financial consumers, and the banks transformed themselves into retail companies.

• Date: 16/04/2018
• Sector: Any
• Topics: Digital technology, Inclusive finance
• Regions: Europe and Central Asia
• Resource type: Publications from partners
• Institutions: Enterprise & Society