How Europabank made digital signing the default

1740498462-blogpost_europabank-1

Executive summary: QES as the new default in consumer banking

Europabank, a Belgian niche bank specialising in personal loans and credit for individuals and small businesses, has fundamentally changed the way it gets contracts signed. Since 2019, the bank has worked with itsme^® - through its partner Nitro - to replace paper-based signing with qualified electronic signatures (QES). The result: a faster, more secure process that customers can complete from their couch, and that no longer depends on branch visits or physical paperwork. 
 

2. The approach: QES through Nitro, powered by itsme^®

For digital signing, Europabank works with Nitro, a software platform specialising in PDF productivity and end-to-end digital document flows. Nitro integrates itsme^® QES as the underlying identity and signing layer. This means Europabank gets a complete and secure managed digital signing experience without having to build or maintain identity infrastructure itself.

The choice to anchor the solution in QES was deliberate. QES holds the same legal weight as a handwritten signature under Belgian and EU law. As a result, contracts signed this way are fully enforceable without any additional wet-ink step. For a bank dealing with credit agreements and formal financial documents, that legal equivalence was non-negotiable. 

The key advantage of itsme^® specifically is that the app was most likely already on the customer's phone. With over 8 million itsme^® users in Belgium, Europabank could offer a fully digital signing experience without asking clients to set up anything new. 

3. How it works: from credit request to signed contract

The full flow removes the branch visit from the standard loan signing journey:

1. The customer submits a credit request, online or in-branch

2. Europabank prepares the contract digitally via Nitro's platform

3. The customer receives a signing invitation 
    

4. The customer authenticates via itsme^® and confirms, placing a QES legally equivalent to a handwritten signature

5. The contract is automatically archived and processed

Signed documents are immediately stored and auditable, eliminating the manual scanning, transport, and filing steps that had previously added cost and risk. The system also ensures that only the verified, intended recipient can access and sign. This gives Europabank full confidence in the identity of the signatory and strengthening its fraud prevention posture.

4. The impact: digital signing as the new default 

The numbers tell a clear story. One-third of all Europabank documents are now signed digitally, with 90% of those signatures placed through itsme^®. Year-on-year, the bank has tripled the volume of digital signatures - and continued strong growth is expected.

For customers, the change is tangible. Credit requests that previously required a branch appointment can now be completed entirely online. Customers can also visit branches without an appointment, since the singing process no longer depends on any physical setup. And because itsme^® is already a familiar tool, trust follows naturally.

For Europabank, the operational gains go well beyond convenience. Archiving is automated. Audit trails are digital and immediate. The risk of human error in manual document handling drops significantly. And because itsme^® QES is embedded in Nitro's platform, the bank doesn't carry the burden of building or maintaining the underlying identity infrastructure itself.

The three-way partnership between Europabank, Nitro, and itsme^® is a working model for how financial institutions can digitise signing without compromising on legal certainty, security, or customer experience.

Ready to take document signing fully digital?

Discover how Nitro and  itsme^® help financial institutions replace paper-based processes with secure, legally compliant QES. All without adding friction for customers or overhead for your team. 

Talk to our experts