This French bank partners with Kyndryl, Regnology and others and has become the 11th largest in Eurozone:
La Banque Postale is the banking subsidiary of La Poste, the national postal service of France. It is now designated as a Significant Institution directly supervised by the European Central Bank, and provides a range of accounts and deposit services, debit and credit cards, loans, mortgages, and various other services. Its operations extend to the whole of Europe and parts of Latin America. Headquartered in Paris, it has some 33,000 employees and its 2023 revenue stood at $27 billion. Its total assets as of 31 December 2023 were $802 billion. Its customer base is around 20 million, which includes those from the most vulnerable to those with assets gained through a unique network of local branches (17,000 points of contact, including 7600 post offices, community branches and relay shops).
3 DISTINCT BRANDS
La Banque Postale has 3 distinct brands – La Banque Postale, everyday banking, Ma French Bank, 100% mobile banking, and Louvre Banque Privée, private banking. What is unique about the bank is that it acts on a daily basis to support 1.4 million customers in financial difficulties, identified as vulnerable. It is the only bank in France to which a public banking accessibility function has been entrusted through the Livret A, a tax-free instant access savings account available to all, regardless of age, nationality or tax residency in France.
La Banque Postale had launched a strategic plan in February 2021 intending to transform its business model and achieve mass scale digitization of operations. It intended to expand the services available digitally and achieve an end-to-end digitization of processes, with the widespread use of e-signatures for home loans, introduction of an online complaints form and the possibility of opening an account in the post office reception area on the customer relationship manager’s smartphone.
The bank is the 11th largest bank in the euro zone. Besides its strong retail banking portfolio, it is strengthening its corporate banking business and bancassurance model, CNP Assurances.
DIGITAL CUSTOMERS GO UP
The bank has assessed that its customers using digital facilities offered have increased manifold and its mobile app has become the primary interaction channel for 4 million customers, who use it on average 20 times a month. All everyday banking products and services are now available on digital channels.
As part of the strategic plan that is targeted to be completed by 2030, the bank has a 3-pronged activity – Digitization of operations, diversification, and differentiation.
EARLY STARTER
La Poste Group as a whole has taken up the use of AI way back in 2016. It had then acquired Probayes, a specialist in customized AI solutions applied to business processes, such as improving the detection of bank card fraud or optimizing logistics flows. It has also partnered with Inria for supporting the research and entrepreneurial projects of some 20 teams, interacting with experts from La Poste Group. It has also acquired Openvalue; a big data and AI consulting firm.
The bank has a long-standing collaboration with Kyndryl, a large IT infrastructure services provider. It has recently strengthened this tie-up whereby Kyndryl will host the bank’s IT platforms and contribute to its CSR policy, particularly in terms of reducing its carbon footprint. The bank has also been using Kyndryl’s expertise and certifications in Payment Card Industry (PCI)/Data Security Standards (DSS) to safeguard the security of customers’ banking data.
The bank also has entered into a tie-up with Regnology, a regulatory reporting platform, to streamline and automate its reporting processes. The bank will use Abacus360 Banking, Regnology’s regulatory reporting and management platform. Abacus360 Banking offers increased operational performance and reporting quality through a modern infrastructure designed to help harmonize data models, streamline workflows and automate calculation and reporting processes.
MORE RESOURCES
The bank has been seeing its customers grow with digital having become the core of its operations As mentioned earlier, its mobile app has become the primary interaction channel for more than 4 million customers and in order to enhance digitization, it has allocated more resources. All everyday banking products and services are now available on digital channels.
The post office network in France is a major differentiator for the bank. The network supports the customers in adopting digital technology. At the same time, its neobank, Ma French Bank, is expanding its operations in both banking and insurance sectors.
BANCASSURANCE A MAJOR ACTIVITY
Something unique about the bank is the fact that its bancassurance business represents nearly 60% of its net income, while 20 % of the net income is from corporate and investment activity. The balance is from international activity (14%) and corporate and investment banking activity (6%).
The neobank Ma French Bank is no more a preferred bank for the newgen alone. It has redone its strategy recently and launched a new product, called Ideal Account, which is a premium version of its offer. The bank claims the response to the new product has been quite encouraging.
This article has been compiled based on publicly available information on the web, particularly the bank’s own website.
Recent Articles:
AI boosts Accuracy & Efficiency
