After Nickel, Brink's turns tobacconists into banks

The cash-in-transit company Brink's now has new ambitions to diversify its activities. It is thus multiplying its partnerships with French tobacconists in order to offer financial services within this network of everyday retailers. Its association with the mutual insurance company Mae conceals broader ambitions.

FACTS

• MAE, the leading school insurance company, recently introduced the Brink's Payment Services solution. Its members can now pay their contributions or subscriptions in cash at more than 1,000 tobacconists and partner services in France.

• But Brink's has not stopped there. It also offers a solution that allows members to :

• pay for purchases online at a tobacconist's (by presenting a QR code linked to the transaction and then validating the delivery of the product concerned),

• to make cash deposits in tobacconists' shops, for the private and retail customers of a neobank (Vybe and Shine being among the first customers of the service).

• Unbanked individuals, vulnerable populations, teenagers and, more broadly, neobank customers, are particularly targeted by these new services.

• 2000 tobacconists have joined forces with Brink's as agents for the Brink's Payment Services solution, which in turn operates as a payment service provider.

CHALLENGES

• Extending its functions beyond its core business: As a professional and benchmark in cash transport, the multiplication of services provided by Brink's with its tobacconist partners now enables it to diversify into cash and payment management.

• Finding new sources of revenue: Like the French Post Office and the decline in mail, Brink's is facing the rise of the digital economy and the decline in cash. A Groupement des Cartes Bancaires business report recorded a 23% fall in cash withdrawals between 2019 and 2020. This is an issue for the management of ATM networks as well as for the cash-in-transit business.

MARKET PERSPECTIVE

• Tobacconists are gradually establishing themselves in the daily lives of the French people as more than just a local retailer, but as a broader service provider. Thus, since 28 July 2020, the Proximity Payment scheme has been available throughout France. It allows people to pay for their debts in cash or with a bank card at a partner tobacconist's.

• Furthermore, various initiatives by private companies have made it possible to integrate new financial services into the heart of tobacco shops. Loomis France signed a partnership with the Confédération des Buralistes last November to install ATMs in tobacco shops. But the most striking example of this diversification into financial services is Nickel.