Feedback: Boursorama updates its offer with Boursomarkets

Boursorama Banque has, as it regularly does, taken part in the publication of its results. And the beginning of 2022 is marked by the continued growth of the Société Générale subsidiary. It is taking advantage of a favourable context in France, following the departure of ING, and is updating its range of stock market products to align itself with the competition from online brokers.

FACTS

• The online bank has announced the update of its stock market investment fund product offering for its 3.3 million customers.

• Called Boursomarket, the new platform is aligned with zero brokerage fees, no conditions and no penalties.

• 40,000 investment products will be available without fees or conditions.

• The structured products that the bank issues or that other leading players in their asset class offer, such as BlackRock and Goldman Sachs, will be available free of charge: trackers on French and European equities (eligible for the PEA) or following major MSCI indices, with reduced management fees (0.15 to 0.40%) compared to traditional UCITS.

• This new offer replaces the Boursorama 0% account. Until then, customers were obliged to place their stock market orders on live securities by telephone, with a fixed commission of 11.90 euros.

• Another major advantage of the Boursorama offer is the free alerts, which are very useful for positioning or disinvesting in a product or security at the right time.

ISSUES

• Zero fee brokerage with no strings attached: Some zero fee brokerage offers often have hidden fees or punitive execution conditions, a practice that is under scrutiny by the European authorities and the AMF. Boursorama, which explains that "issuers will offer the same price ranges as today as those of the regulated market without receiving retrocessions linked to prices or execution volumes"

• Facing competition from new platforms: Germany's Trade Republic continues to gain ground, claiming one million clients in just two years of operation. Boursorama Banque, which has been the cheapest bank for 14 years now, does not want to compete on free services.

• A bank adapted to the needs of young people: Its brokerage activity benefits from a buoyant market, driven by a younger customer base. In 2021, its stock market products grew by 25% to EUR 9 billion, including PEAs, ordinary securities accounts and its Compte d'Épargne Financière Pilotée (CEFP) invested in UCIs.

MARKET PERSPECTIVE

• Societe Generale is one of the most heavily invested French banks in the Russian market (notably through its subsidiary Rosbank). The new geopolitical context is therefore largely to its disadvantage; the French bank has seen its stock market value fall by almost 10% since the start of the conflict.

• Boursorama Banque's growth prospects are therefore more welcome than ever for the group as a whole. Freshly reorganised, in particular through its merger with Crédit du Nord, Société Générale is relying heavily on its digital transformation and on future technologies to renew itself. The rise of its online bank is part of this strategy.