Four years after its launch, Orange Bank is now one of the top five mobile banks in France. But this success has a cost. And Orange Bank’s losses are growing every year. Not enough, however, to discourage the operator.
Orange Bank continues to grow. Mobile banking has just passed the milestone of 1.7million customers in France and Spain. And she does not intend to stop there. Each month, 40,000 new customers swell its ranks.
Unlike other nobanks, whose success has largely been built on free offers, more than 90% of new Orange Bank customers subscribe to a paid offer: premium bank account, invoice 7.99 euros per month, but also personal loans or insurance for mobiles.
Find the lowest rate for your real estate project!
Assumed losses
However, Orange Bank remains today large deficit. A constant since its launch. Last year, the sign had promised to substantially reduce its losses. In 2021, the mobile bank still recorded, according to Agefia consolidated net loss of 166million euros (compared to 195million in 2020), bringing its total 809million euros in four years.
This progression curve, with substantial investments to create a new digital bank, modern and in line with the expectations of Orange customers, has been planned from the start. The speed of convergence towards equilibrium is comparable to, or faster than, that of its peers in the no-banking industry, the group defended itself in a previous press release.
Orange Bank, Ma French Bank, Nickel… Who has the best premium card?
847million invested
Expected or not, these results have not diminished Orange’s appetite for the banking sector. On the occasion of a capital increase in October 2021, the operator once again put its hands in its pocket to bail out Orange Bank. In total, the group will have injected more than 847million euros in its mobile banking project.
In its annual report, the operator specifies that it hopes to achieve profitability in financial services by 2024. To achieve this, Orange is focusing in particular on the African continent, with its mobile payment subsidiary, Orange Money. Launched in the Ivory Coast in mid-2020, the brand has already 700,000 customers and should soon expand to Senegal, Mali and Burkina Faso, according to Orange.
A strategic transfer which partly explains the divorce of Orange and Groupama. Until recently, the mutualist brand held 21.7% of the capital of Orange Bank. But at the end of 2021, she preferred to leave the adventure, leaving Orange alone on board. For the best or for the worst?
Online banking: comparison of offers