Signicat, the Trusted Digital Identity™ company, has acquired Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) specialist Encap Security from AllClear ID. With Encap’s user-friendly and secure mobile app-based authentication solution, Signicat ensures SCA compliance across the full customer lifecycle. The acquisition creates a company with unparalleled breadth in identity and authentication, establishing Signicat as a mobile identity and authentication powerhouse.

Encap Security is the leader in high-security app-based mobile authentication. It was founded in 2006, spun out from a project by Norwegian banks to create a ground-breaking software-based mobile ID solution. Encap’s SCA platform is used across Europe by clients in regulated markets, especially financial services, for customer mobile authentication and security for all digital use cases and across all channels. Today Encap serves millions of end users, facilitating hundreds of millions of transactions annually, with many of the largest service providers in the financial industry in the Nordics and EU among its customers.

Signicat and Encap have worked together as trusted partners for over 10 years. The acquisition brings together Signicat’s expertise in digital identity, onboarding and signing, and Encap’s experience in making authentication convenient and user-friendly without compromising on security or compliance. Signicat now offers all the technology regulated businesses require on a global basis to successfully verify, onboard, and authenticate across the entire customer lifecycle, including digital signatures and payment authorisation via mobile—all compliant to the demands of PSD2 SCA.

“Encap Security was ahead of its time when it was founded, providing mobile-first authentication even before smartphones were mainstream—and it has retained this advantage ever since. Together, our passwordless solution provides consumers and businesses with exceptional ease-of-use while protecting them from risk and fraud,” states Asger Hattel, CEO of Signicat. “This acquisition provides the backbone to our mobile digital identity strategy and establishes Signicat as a mobile identity and authentication powerhouse.”

“Signicat and Encap Security share much more than our Norwegian roots,” said Johan Sörmling, CEO, Encap Security. “We look to provide our customers with the very best user experience without compromising on security. With firms across Europe looking to mitigate the impact of SCA regulation on the customer experience, we believe we have the right proposition at the right time.”

Encap’s technology looks beyond compliance and uses authentication to improve – rather than inhibit – the customer experience and deliver value to end customers. Its Anonymous ID service allows end users to pause the onboarding process and return later, reducing abandonment, while Recovery of Authentication Profiles makes moving from an old to a new device simple. Unlike other providers, Encap Security supports clients by improving their mobile services at the start of the engagement, at daily interactions, and if the service channel is disrupted.