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Regional focus Money à la mode
France has long been home to some of Europe’s biggest fi nancial institutions. Buoyed by a thoughtful loosening of the fi nancial regulation – prodded along by the Brexit-inspired chaos across the Channel – the Hexagon is becoming a prime destination for challenger banks too. Phoebe Galbraith speaks to Sophie Heller, COO at BNP Paribas Commercial, Personal Banking and Services, and Oliver Levy- Barouch, deputy CEO at La Banque Postale, to understand how the competition between oldies and newcomers is heating up across France, and whether the country’s neo banks can hope to offer ever more complex products, even as the old masters up their game.
T
here is no denying that the development and innovation of fintech and digital banking has pushed many traditional banks to adapt in turn – and France is no exception to this trend. As its main traditional institutions – Crédit Agricole, BNP Paribas, BPCE and Société Générale – rank among the top banks on the continent, the country faces continual pressure to keep up with the technological expectations of their customers. One of Europe’s major financial centres and a largely “oligopolistic” banking sector, to quote Olivier Levy-Barouch, deputy CEO at La Banque Postale, the Hexagon’s banking has witnessed
growing success in the wake of Brexit – and made clear its bid for a leading role in the fintech space. As far as traditional players are concerned, this growth can be witnessed in the almost 2,500 jobs and €170bn in assets driven to France in the aftermath of the leave vote. That’s shadowed by similar growth in the realm of fintechs. With over 1,000 financial start-ups, such as Ledger, which provides security and infrastructure solutions to digital assets, or Shift, a fintech exploiting automation and AI to make decision-making easier, France has cemented itself as a major industry hub.
Future Banking /
www.nsbanking.com
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