IBS Journal November 2015
Société Générale considers scrapping 400 branches in new digital overhaul
French bank Société Générale could close a fifth of its retail branches in a move towards a more digitised retail banking model. The bank could close around 400
branches by 2020, according to French union, Force Ouvriere. The number equates to roughly 20% of the bank’s entire French network. It is understood that Société Générale is seeking to accelerate a pro- cess that began with 40 closures earlier this year. The final number of additional branch-
es to be scrapped hasn’t been decided, according to the bank, which will be pro- viding details on the revamp in the coming months. The overhaul will focus mainly on the
bank’s urban networks and will mean it can work on ‘increasing the size and efficien- cy’ of the remaining branches, according to Société Générale. The bank currently operates 2,200 outlets, which generated an income of around €419 million ($470 mil- lion) in Q2 2015.
‘Progressive optimisation’ ‘We have already started to progressively optimise our network of branches by shut-
Société Générale central branch,
now a heritage site, Paris © Benh LIEU SONG, Wikipedia
ting down a few dozen per year,’ Société Générale told Reuters. ‘We will present a detailed plan of our 2020 model, before the year’s end.’ The bank has already said that it will be cutting 420 staff in France as part of an attempt to save €850 million ($947.50 million) between 2015 and 2017.
Under the overhaul strategy the bank’s
branches will be divided into three types: automated self-service areas, mid-sized agencies and large agencies. A ‘broad dig- itisation’ scheme for the branches is also planned.
Alex Hamilton
STET to launch new payments platform and CSM for the European market
STET, a French clearing and settlement agency, is developing a new instant payment platform for payment service providers (PSPs) in Europe. The agency currently processes
over 15 billion transactions per year for French and Belgian banks, underpinned by STET’s Java and Unix-based platform, Core. It now says that it is working on creating a system for the entirety of the Single Euro Payment Area (SEPA). French banking institutions will get first choice with the opportunity of being early adopters. STET is planning to open the platform to other European
countries in future, which any PSP across the continent will be free to use. The technical information of the
new payments platform will also be white labelled to European PSP commu- nities wanting to retain a local author- ity. The new platform will also be fully compliant with the SEPA Credit Transfer (SCTinst) standards, as defined by the European Central Bank’s retail systems board.
More on the horizon STET is also planning the launch of a new clearing and settlement mechanism
© IBS Intelligence 2015
(CSM) for SEPA, available in late 2016. Named
SEPA.eu, the new infrastructure will operate a multi-cycle, delivery-after settlement model. According to STET CEO, Jean-Marie
Vallée, the European payments market is ‘continuing to transform, creating chal- lenges for market participants to pro- cess payments faster at the same time as ensuring compliance with regulations.’ Payment providers like STET, he
adds, should take a leading role in meet- ing these heightened expectations.
Alex Hamilton
www.ibsintelligence.com 17
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