Challenger Bank: Ma French Bank (Eventually) Sees the Day

La Banque Postale officially launches their e-banking service Ma French Bank. The associated website is now available and its commercial launch is scheduled for July 22 in 2,000 post offices.

Targets: Millennials ages 18 to 35.
Goals: attract younger customers; 1.6 million customers still use their self-service counters on a daily basis.
Cost: for €2/month, the offer includes a current account, a real-time budget management app and an international Visa card, with no fees applied on transactions carried out abroad.
Ambition: Attract 1 million customers by 2025 to reach the break-even point.
Several services will be added:
- Mon Extra Prêt: a revolving credit service
- Ma tirelire: a tool for feeding sub-accounts through rounding up transaction amounts, or via credit transfer to save money for different projects
- Let’s Cagnotte: a tool for managing money pots (birthdays and other celebrations)
- Mobile payments, enabling the users to pay with Apple Pay as well as initiate instant credit transfers via text message
- Crowdfunding offer through their dedicated subsidiary KissKissBankBank
- We Partage: a tool for balancing shared expenses among relatives and friends
- Mes garanties: a set of additional guarantees (means of payment, keys, official documents, purchases and shipping, identity protection), at an extra cost of €2/month.
Majo app updates are planned to be released every 6 months: Ma French Bank intends to regularly expand their range of banking products. Other credit and savings features, as well as insurance products are also considered.

Streamlining customer experience with an extensive range of services. Ma French Bank bets on simplifying customers’ experience: they may for instance open an account in less than 10 minutes through the dedicated mobile app. The users will be provided access to all features generally available from challenger banks.
A significant investment. La Banque Postale invested over €100 million in building their mobile bank’s IT and digital infrastructure. Ma French Bank is to be viewed as a bank in its own right rather than a brand from their parent company.
A competitive market. Ma French Bank lands on a crowded market. They bet on a hybrid approach based on physical and digital networks. This strategy proved successful for Nickel which claims 1.2 million customers. They will be using their banking licence to stand out on their own behalf, unlike other players (Nickel or Morning, for instance) only able to rely on Payment Institution approvals. They also want to make a difference through featuring a large range of services.

After running a test phase in 2018 with a limited number of customers and employees from their group, Ma French Bank will be strengthening La Banque Postale’s Mobile First strategy. This institution also launched Jaab, their digital wallet for kids ages 8 to 14.
Ma French Bank follows in the footsteps of services like Enjoy by Caisse d’Épargne, also charged €2/month and Eko by Crédit Agricole which recently claimed 80,000 accounts since launch. And LCL just unveiled a €2/month bank account, as well.

Category : Alertes quotidiennes