14 September 2022
The Finnish Ministry of Finance has granted the Findynet Cooperative a three-million-euro government grant to build a pilot environment for a self-sovereign identity network. With the financing, the cooperative initiates the building of the trust network and strengthens its organization by appointing Mika Huhtamäki as Chairman of The Board and Markus Hautala as CEO.
The Findynet Cooperative board has elected Mika Huhtamäki as the new Chairman of The Board. Huhtamäki has been a member of The Findynet Cooperative’s board of directors since June 2021. For the past 15 years, he has been building Vastuu Group Oy's business and serves as the company's Vice President with responsibility for identification services and MyData business. Huhtamäki is an innovative pioneer in service development and sustainable data business, with extensive experience in i.a. Tax Administration, Financial Supervisory Authority solutions and ecosystem-driven development of law-based personal and business information services. Huhtamäki is a Certified Board Member (CBM) recognized by The Finland Chamber of Commerce.
The Findynet Cooperative Board has appointed Markus Hautala as CEO of the cooperative. With this appointment, Hautala has resigned as a cooperative board member. Hautala has 20 years of experience in building and bringing innovative digital services to the market within financial services and the IT industry. Since June 2021, he has served as the chairman of the board of The Findynet Cooperative. In addition to his role as CEO of the cooperative, he will continue as Head of Digital Identity at Tietoevry.
The Findynet Cooperative is developing a common and secure self-sovereign identity network, which can be used to ensure the correctness of information in electronic interactions. The network allows connected digital wallets, individuals, and organizations to share information about themselves in a reliable and secure manner in various situations. The Findynet Cooperative includes nine public and private sector organizations: Finance Finland, Finnish Post, Nixu, Nordea Bank, OP Financial Group, Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela), Technology Finland, Tietoevry and Vastuu Group.
The Findynet Cooperative's previous announcement about the funding granted by the Ministry of Finance can be found here.
For more information, please contact:
Mika Huhtamäki, Chairman of the Board, Findynet Cooperative, tel. +358 40 061 6253, mika.huhtamaki(at)vastuugroup.fi
Markus Hautala, CEO, Findynet Cooperative, tel. +358 40 182 4299, markus.hautala(at)tietoevry.com