Arkéa to sell Leetchi and Mangopay
The newspaper Les Echos revealed Crédit Mutuel Arkéa's intention to separate from its subsidiary specialized in the creation of Leetchi savings accounts and the payment specialist MangoPay. A strategic turnaround for a bank historically very committed to FinTechs.
FACTS
- A mandate has been filed with Deutsche Bank to allow Crédit Mutuel Arkéa to sell Leetchi and MangoPay.
- The information has not been officially confirmed by the main parties but coincides with the arbitration strategy decided by the new chairman of the mutual group Julien Carmona concerning Arkéa's subsidiaries.
CHALLENGES
- Overhauling the group's strategy: Julien Carmona took over as Chairman of Crédit Mutuel Arkéa last June. Since then, he has set himself two major objectives: to develop the group in the regions and to give it independence. But he is also openly working on overhauling the group's FinTech strategy, which has so far been focused on supporting development rather than buying out potential competitors.
- Getting rid of a financial burden... According to Crédit Mutuel Arkéa's latest annual report, Leetchi posted nearly €4 million in losses in 2020 and negative equity. If the continuation of Leetchi's activity was approved at the Extraordinary General Meeting a few months ago, the FinTech must now rebuild its equity.
- ... and commercial: Especially since UFC-Que-Choisir has filed a complaint for deceptive commercial practices against Leetchi and that various scandals have finally tainted its image. MangoPay, for its part, was reprimanded by the ACPR for failing to comply with its obligations in the fight against money laundering.
KEY FIGURES
Leetchi
- 2009: creation of Leetchi
- 2012: Leetchi launched internationally
- 2015 : acquisition by Arkéa
- 14 million users in over 150 countries
- 700 million euros collected in total
MangoPay
- 10 billion euros in flows processed since its creation
MARKET PERSPECTIVE
- Crédit Mutuel Arkéa focused its strategy on bringing together a number of FinTech players in the 2010s (Leetchi, Grisbee, Linxo, Younited Credit, Pytheas Capital Advisors, Yomoni and Budget Insight). The group even launched its model in-house with Max in 2017.
- But this expansion strategy has since shown its limits; the investments made, up to 60 million euros to acquire 86% of Leetchi in 2015, do not allow the group to make a profit today.