Digital Bank: TagPay Enters the French Market

TagPay’s founders just published a book entitled Fintech – les banques contre-attaquent (banks fight back). They also announced a partnership with the digital consulting firm Onepoint. TagPay is famous for their banking services platform, and takes advantage of the fast-growing m-banking sector in Europe. They are entering the French market.

Two years after Société Générale invested in their capital, this FinTech works with 27 banks in 18 emerging countries, mostly in Africa. They are now hoping to enter Europe, and opted for France for their first launch. TagPay’s payment solutions rely on Near Sound Data Transfer. Their Cloud-based infrastructure instead of a Core Banking system to manage payments, credits and savings.

Through their partnership with Onepoint, this FinTech is aiming to provide French banks with a packaged solution enabling them to launch a financial institution in three to six months. Their digital banking system will be made available to their partner banks to improve account management processes (money transfer, payment initiation, ID verification, etc.). Onepoint will be providing strategic and operational assistance. They will be in charge of change management and training employees to use the platform.

These partners already stroke a deal, likely to be announced in the days to come. Their recent funding round will help them through this international expansion plan, and the French start-up also intends to cover North America and Asia.

Comments – Turnkey solution for banks looking into improving agility

In Europe, the Second Payment Service Directive will further be opening the banking market to FinTech companies; it also means that cooperative arrangements will be favoured. In this context, TagPay and Onepoint are offering turnkey solutions for traditional banking players so they can modernise or improve their existing system. By way of standing out and maximising their offer’s impact, their assistance service doesn’t only cover technological aspects, it includes implementing new business models and customised customer processes.

This partnership is announced just a few days after BPCE said they would not be launching their neo-bank Fidor in France. Financial hurdles account for this decision, but strategic issues may also have had a part to play, as well as difficulties to include this atypical subsidiary. TagPay already helped Société Générale with rolling out a banking offer and a mobile wallet for sub-Saharan markets.