Signicat brings in Emma Bauer as Global Chief Product Officer to scale cross-border identity platform

Signicat, a European specialist in digital identity solutions, has announced the appointment of Emma Bauer as its new Global Chief Product Officer.

She joins the executive team to scale Signicat’s Software-as-a-Service platform as Europe faces sweeping regulatory shifts under eIDAS 2.0 and the Anti-Money Laundering Regulation (AMLR).

The European digital identity landscape is currently defined by stark contrasts in consumer habits: from the Nordics, where eID usage is a daily standard, to Southern Europe, where vastly different onboarding and authentication solutions are required.

Through eight acquisitions, Signicat lays claim to the market's most comprehensive product portfolio, allowing businesses in highly regulated sectors and governments to grow across borders, regardless of regional fragmentation. 

“We are operating a highly sophisticated, innovation-driven one-stop-shop proposition to our customers, solving one of Europe’s biggest challenges: cross-border digital trust,” says Asger Hattel, CEO at Signicat. 

“For this, we needed a well-reputed scale-up leader who combined strong CPO experience with unique technical roots. An individual with the ability to push both shorter time-to-market, innovation, and new methods with all the toolkits the AI era has to offer.”

“Beyond Emma’s impressive technical roots and product expertise, there is a very strong cultural match. Her proven ability to empower and manage high-performing, distributed teams across different regions makes her key to taking Signicat to the next level in our scaling journey.”

“Digital identity is the foundation of a modern society, but the varying consumer behaviour and impending regulations across Europe create an incredibly intricate puzzle for businesses to solve,” says Bauer.

“Signicat has uniquely positioned itself to solve this by providing a unified platform that manages cross-border transactions. I was drawn to the company’s clear purpose, its transparent and collaborative culture, and its leading market position. This is an exciting scaling phase, and I am thrilled to help shape the future of trust across Europe and beyond.”

2026 RTIH Innovation Awards

AI will be a key focus area at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards.

The awards are now open for entries and celebrate global retail technology innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.

Our winners will be revealed at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards Ceremony, taking place at The HAC in Central London on Wednesday, 4th November.

Check out our 2025 winners here.

Our 2025 hall of fame entrants were revealed during a sold out event which took place at The HAC on 16th October and consisted of a drinks reception, three course meal, and awards ceremony presided over by award winning comedian, actress and writer Tiff Stevenson.

In his welcome speech, Scott Thompson, Founder and Editor, RTIH, said: “This is the awards’ fifth year as a physical event. We started off with just 30 people at the South Place Hotel not far from here, then moved to London Bridge Hotel, then The Barbican, and last year RIBA’s HQ in the West End.”

“But I’m conscious of the fact that, to quote the legend that is Taylor Swift, You’re only as hot as your last hit, baby. So, this year we’ve moved to our biggest venue yet, and also pulled in our largest number of entries to date and broken attendance records.”

He added: “This year’s submissions have without doubt been our best yet. To quote one of the judges: The examples of innovative developments across both traditional and digital retail spaces were truly remarkable.”

Congratulations to our winners, and a big thank you to our sponsors, judging panel, the legend that is Tiff Stevenson, and all those who attended our 2025 gathering.