Regional focus
Paris is now a banking powerhouse with tentacles spreading across Europe.
That’s largely thanks to its strong growth in investments over the past decade, that have led it to become an attractive location for new offices and investors. Already home to the European Securities and Markets Authority, March 2019 saw the European Banking Authority make the move from London to Paris following Britain’s departure from the EU.
“Around 15 years ago, you started to have digital banks…[with] a simpler and cheaper offer in terms of pricing that had some success. It led traditional banks to evolve a little bit, then we had a lot of neo banks that were mobile focused and based on international platforms, such as N26.”
Sophie Heller Gallic bug €8,178.2bn
The balance sheet of France’s six largest banking groups at the end of 2021, compared with €7,864.1bn in 2020.
Banque de France 12
While there may be plenty of headline figures to admire, the ultimate cause of this revolution in financial services can be traced back to developing consumer habits. According to the Fédération Bancaire Française, for example, 96% of French residents use their bank’s website or app to access their finances. And despite some early reluctance, contactless payments continue to grow at a rate of 23% per year, while the rate of mobile payments have more than doubled since 2021.
“Around 15 years ago, you started to have digital banks…[with] a simpler and cheaper offer in terms of pricing that had some success,” explains Sophie Heller, COO at BNP Paribas Commercial, Personal Banking and Services. “It led traditional banks to evolve a little bit, then we had a lot of neo banks that
were mobile focused and based on international platforms, such as N26.” The onset of such models attracted an increasing number of customers faster, as the onboarding process was much easier, notably thanks to video recognition. Initially, Heller continues, online banks were used as a “secondary bank”, but with increasing development of the business model, there is an increasing number of niche banks that are specialised to particular customers. Based in Paris, one good example is Qonto, a neobank dedicated to creating financial solutions for freelancers and SMEs.
“There is no denying that the rise of digital banks has significantly raised the expected standard of service for customers of financial products and services,” agrees Levy-Barouch. As the executive continues, there is very little difference between products across banks – what matters is customer intelligence and experience. “All this evolution means that traditional banks have kept digitalising their processes,” says Heller, “starting with onboarding of new clients and improvement of mobile application functionalities. And I think that now, if you look at it in an objective way, the difference of experience between neo banks and traditional banks in general is not that big.” While newer banks have a head start on user experience, in other words, Heller believes the gap is narrowing. Of course, this is not specific to France; the same evolution can be seen everywhere from Poland to Spain. The key difference in the Fifth Republic, Heller says, is the way online banks are organised. Digital banks like Boursorama function as independent companies with their own branding but are ultimately owned by traditional institutions like Société Générale.
Future Banking /
www.nsbanking.com
Kiev.Victor/
Shutterstock.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41
