IBS Journal February 2016


Orange looks to create mobile-only bank with Groupama Banque acquisition


French telecoms firm Orange is making moves into financial services with an acqui- sition of compatriot company Groupama Banque. Orange has been sounding out


possible diversification avenues in recent times and appears to have found one in the creation of a mobile-only ‘Orange Bank’. The firm’s 65% stake in Groupama


Banque will give Orange an existing infra- structure in which to operate, as well as a network of high street-based branches.


100% mobile The launch of ‘Orange Bank’ is slated for the beginning of 2017 in France, followed by testing phases in other European markets. Orange, according to its chairman


and CEO, Stephane Richard, benefits from


‘a unique combination of essential assets’ that will aid it in launching a ‘100% mobile bank’.


How an established branch network


fits into a mobile-only bank operation was not disclosed by Richard, though Thierry Martel, chief executive officer of Groupama Banque, shines some light on the matter. ‘We are working on a genuine bank


4.0,’ he says. The final product will be a vir- tual bank combined with a branch network offering insurance services that are ‘always at hand’. Groupama Banque, a subsidiary of


insurance group Groupe des Assurances Mutuelles Agrocoles, has looked likely to be spun off since its parent firm got into financial difficulties in 2011. It has around 550,000 customers and €2.7 billion in


The future’s bright Orange was among a host of backers for blockchain start-up Chain.com, which gained $30 million in investment in late 2015. With its latest acquisition of Groupama Banque, could we be seeing a blockchain-based mobile offering in the near future? The telecoms firm already operates


financial services in the Middle East and Africa with its Orange Money mobile pay- ments service, and launched a new ‘Orange Finanse’ service in Poland.


Alex Hamilton


deposits. Financial details of the acquisition


have not been disclosed.


HSBC rings in 2016 with fresh online banking glitch; invests in cognitive computing start-up


HSBC customers experienced trouble accessing their online accounts as the bank suffered another glitch with its mobile and internet systems. HSBC internet banking customers


attempting to check their account balances were left perplexed and frustrated as the bank’s web servers appeared to splutter. The service received thousands of problem reports as users stormed social media to vent their ire. The bank has replied to customers by


tweeting that it’s ‘aware some customers are experiencing problems’, offering up the solution that users ‘try again later’. The problems continued for several days, and HSBC published a statement apologising for the predicament: ‘We are currently experiencing issues with our Online and Mobile banking. Personal Mobile banking is working but due to high demand customers may experience delays. We will ensure customers do not lose out as a result of this issue.’


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No explanation has been given as to the cause of the outage – though the bank has ruled out rumours of a cyber attack. This is not the first time the bank has


suffered an IT glitch leaving customers in the lurch. In August 2015 more than 275,000 people were left without their monthly pay when a flaw meant customers could no longer receive or send payments. The bank’s commercial and retail banking sites also went down. The outages may strike a somewhat


ironic tone after the bank reported fresh profits last year amid its new ‘digital technology focus’. HSBC’s COO John Hackett subsequent-


ly appeared on social media to apologise to long-suffering internet banking users who had been unable to access their services.


Investing in CustomerMatrix In a more positive development, HSBC has emerged as one of the leading names in a recent $10.5 million funding round for cog-


© IBS Intelligence 2016 www.ibsintelligence.com


nitive computing start-up CustomerMatrix. Based in New York, CustomerMatrix


aims to create a platform that will change the way that customer relationship man- agement operates by, it says, connecting the dots. The start-up’s scoring system has


been designed to recommend actions to customer-facing agents in real-time, as well as embed successful actions in existing workflows ranked by how much impact they had. Other investors joining HSBC in the


series B funding include Newfund and True Global Ventures. CustomerMatrix also claims that six of the world’s top 20 banks are among its customers. Guy Mounier, CEO at the start-up, says


that banks that avoid customer relationship management ‘will struggle to defend their market position over the next five years’. Maximising its potential, he adds, is a huge opportunity for financial institutions.


Alex Hamilton


digital round-up news


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