La Banque Postale makes instant transfers free

La Banque Postale has just announced that it is taking a new initiative to democratise instant transfers in France. To do this, it is counting on making this service widespread and free of charge. This pricing and marketing approach will enable it to underline its responsible commitments and participate in the development of new payment practices.

FACTS

• La Banque Postale has abolished charges for instant online transfers since 1 January for retail customers and since 1 April for business customers. Previously, the service was charged at 70 euro cents for retail customers and 80 cents for business customers.

• The group is now communicating on this initiative by announcing its intention to generalise the use of this method of payment.

• 20 million customers (individuals and businesses) are concerned; they will be able to access the service from next May. Instant Payment will gradually replace the standard transfers issued by La Banque Postale.

CHALLENGES

• La Banque Postale hopes to create a "new market standard": Rather than offering this payment method as a simple option, LBP wants to make Instant Payment a standard by offering it by default for any type of transfer of less than €1,000 for individuals and €7,700 for businesses.

• Asserting a committed position: The European Central Bank (ECB) initiated this movement by making the service available in France in 2018 and called to order the European banks which, according to the ECB, were slowing down its adoption because of the cost, which was considered too high. However, as the ECB pointed out at the time, this is a strategic issue of sovereignty to which the democratisation of instant payment would contribute.

• Boosting usage: In 2021, Instant Payment represented less than 6% of transfers made by individuals at La Banque Postale. Apart from La Banque Postale, in the first half of 2021, 62 million transfers were instant, out of a total of 2.34 billion, according to the Banque de France. The fact that the service is free should obviously motivate usage.

MARKET PERSPECTIVE

• BPCE was the first bank in France to position itself as a traditional bank in favour of the democratisation of Instant Payment. But the service is still subject to a charge.

• However, La Banque Postale is not the first to offer Instant Payment free of charge in France. For the pioneers in this area, it is mainly an online bank (Boursorama, Hello Bank via its Prime offer, Fortunéo), although some regional banks of Crédit Agricole also offer it.