A recent study highlights a growing gap between online banks and regional mutualist brands, which are attracting new customers, and national commercial banks, which are losing them.
Over the last three years, the major online banks – BoursoBank, Fortuneo, Hello bank – have recorded a average growth of 5.7% in their customer basenotes the annual Bain & Company study, revealed by The echoes. Regional mutual banks, such as Crdit Agricole and Crdit Mutuel, are also experiencing expansion, although more modest, with annual growth of 0.9% to 1.3%. On the other hand, national commercial brands, such as BNP Paribas or SG, tend to see their customer base decrease, by 0.7% to 1.8%.
How can we explain these opposing dynamics? Mutual banks traditionally capitalize on proximity, with agency networks visible in the territories. They also benefit from their proactivity in customer-bank relations. As for online banks, this is the consistency between the promise (low prices, a simple and transparent offer, etc.) and the real services offered which allows us to understand their growing success.
However, the decline of large commercial banks must be put into perspective. They are, in fact, owners of some of the main online banking brands (BoursoBank for Socit Generale and Hello Bank for BNP Paribas). They are also taking advantage of the withdrawal of certain players from the French market (ING, Orange Bank) to increase their business assets, via referencing agreements.
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Banking mobility on the decline
Despite still real competition, banking mobility tends to decrease, going from 5.5% at the end of 2020 to 3.6% over the last twelve months, thus returning to its 2015 level. improving customer satisfactionbut also cyclical factors such as the collapse of the production of real estate loans last year, reducing opportunities for banks to attract new customers for real estate purchases. One thing does not change, however: high-income customers continue to be the most mobile, three times more than the average.
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