The UK and Germany are leading the European banking sector’s acquisition of online-only account customers, new data has shown.

A study by Verdict Financial on behalf of digital identity startup HooYu revealed “40% of German customers and 38% of UK customers opening new accounts online” - around double the numbers in France and Italy.

The figures point to a broader trend in identification procedures used by financial institutions, which currently vary by country even within the European Union.

HooYu, which uses so-called “universal tokens of identity” to quicken sign-up procedures, says the lack of verification databases in countries with lower uptakes now has a solution.

“Financial services and banking clients using HooYu to verify their customers are seeing a huge uplift in their digital customer acquisition channels,” Director of Marketing David Pope said in a press release issued on Monday.

At the same time, Blockchain-based identity solutions are addressing a broader worldwide lack of cohesion.

Civic, the startup aiming to aid ease of access to identity material for the millions of global citizens without official documentation, successfully concluded its ICO last week in a highly oversubscribed release, easily reaching its $33 mln target.

LuxTrust last month partnered with Blockchain identity startup Cambridge Blockchain to develop a competitor platform specific for the EU.