Why do online banks refuse to open LEPs?

The People’s Savings Account, whose return should reach 4.5% net in early August, is absent from the catalog of online banks. Everything is united, however, for this to change.

You are right, Alain: the Livret d’pargne populaire is almost absent from the catalog of online banks. Almost, because there is an exception: Hello Bank. And for good reason: the latter is not a real online bank, but a digital counter of the BNP Paribas offer, which does offer the LEP.

One of the reasons for this absence is simple: the demand, for a long time, did not exist. This was confirmed to us by Boursorama Banque, the only brand to have answered our questions. First, because the LEP was of little interest to French savers in general: in 2021, only 17% of them held one, i.e. around 7 million, while they are at least twice as eligible for this product reserved for taxpayers little or not impossible. Then because this eligibility profile did not fit well with the clientele of online banksfor a long time selected entry on the basis of his income.

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However, this is changing. In recent years, most market players have developed offers accessible without income conditions: Welcome and Ultim at Boursorama, Fosfo at Fortuneo… Result: a larger target, younger and (slightly) less comfortable, therefore potentially more interested in LEP.

Especially since the Livret d’Epargne Populaire is no longer quite the product it was a year ago. Since February 1, 2022, it has been earning 2.20%, a return which should rise to 4.5% on August 1. This is the consequence of the recent changes made to the formulas for calculating regulated savings rates which have enabled the LEP to emerge from the wake of the Livret A rate to stall on the rise in consumer prices. A development desired by the public authorities, who do not miss an opportunity to highlight the LEP as the anti-inflation product par excellence, instead of the Livret A.

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In this context, LEP could increasingly interest online banks. Boursorama Banque has also confirmed to us that it is studying the subject. Another recent development lends credibility to this hypothesis. For a long time, one of the brakes on the development of LEP was, in fact, its management complexity. Why? Because the banks that offer it have the obligation to check the eligibility of the holders. To do this, they checked their tax assessment by hand every year. A cumbersome and time-consuming process for customer service managers.

This is no longer the case: from now on, they can directly ask the tax authorities to give them, or not, the green light. And this automatically, via a computer interface. What make the LEP much more compatible with the organization of customer management in online banks.

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