“We are lengthening the vision and shortening the objectives.” Nicolas Namias, Chairman of the Board of BPCE, chose a dual focus to present the banking group’s new strategic plan on Wednesday, June 26.
For the “long term”, i.e. by 2030, the ambition of the group born in 2009 from the merger of the Banque Populaire and Caisse d’Epargne establishments and which also oversees Natixis, is therefore to be the bank “one in four French people”the leading bank for professionals and businesses, but also to move from eighth to fourth place in the national insurance market.
This last objective implies an enrichment of the range and an increase in the rate at which banking customers are equipped with protection insurance, life insurance or savings products. This development involves partnerships, such as the one sealed in May with the alarm and remote monitoring specialist Verisure. The two major retail banking networks, which there is no question of merging, also have the mission of recruiting two million additional customers in six years, including 800,000 by 2026.
Two million additional customers
Whether old or new, the group intends to leave its customers free to choose the nature of their relationship with their bank, “from 100% digital to 100% physical”, specifies Mr. Namias. The network of 6,000 agencies, one of the densest in France, is therefore not threatened with restructuring, assures management. “ Agencies in 2030 will be what meets customer needs”simply says the chairman of the board, who also mentions the role promised to artificial intelligence in supporting banking advisors.
Other factors could influence the evolution of the network structure. Because the “vision” described for 2030 is accompanied by demanding financial objectives for a shorter horizon, that of 2026: BPCE plans to reduce its operating coefficient, the ratio between its expenses and its income, to 66 by this deadline. % against 71% today, to achieve 5 billion euros in profit, almost 80% more than in 2023.
The last two years have, it is true, marked a delicate period for the group: the rise in rates from the European Central Bank has particularly affected BPCE, which is heavily exposed to regulated savings, led by Livret A. This squeeze in net interest margins, the difference between the rates at which a bank finances itself and those at which it lends, caused the group’s net profit to fall by a quarter, to 2.8 billion euros in 2023.
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