Trust Based Banking

Undocumented citizens without a citizen service number (BSN) have no access in the Netherlands to government services such as, for example, legal aid, help with mental health complaints or municipal services due to the Koppelingswet (Linking Act) (1998). Undocumented people cannot register their identity and residence anywhere and are therefore ‘invisible’ in society.

Without the necessary identity documents, it is simply impossible for them to work, rent a house, register with the municipality or open a bank account. Despite these restrictions, many people are forced into unregulated work to survive, often at the risk of exploitation. The WODC estimated in 2020 that there are between 23,000 and 58,000 undocumented migrants in the Netherlands.

Many are at physical risk because they have no access to banks: being paid in cash means they carry large sums of money with them when they go out. In addition, more and more services in the Netherlands are moving to a cashless infrastructure. Supermarkets, cafés and public transport are switching to digital payments, excluding people who can only pay in cash.

The Trust Based Banking project is a research and development initiative of Waag futurelab and Here to Support (HtS), in which we are developing a prototype ‘e-wallet’ in collaboration with various stakeholders and want to experiment, through a pilot, with how and under what conditions undocumented residents of the Netherlands can access banking services.

We aim to use the results of the pilot to create more support at banks to enable alternative forms of identification based on community vouching: a process whereby members of a community or network can recommend each other.

If you are interested in this topic and would like to contribute to its research and development, please contact Pourya at gro.gaaw@ayruop.