Nickel account launches new 'True Name' card for transgender and non-binary people

Since its launch in early 2014, Nickel, formerly the Nickel account, has always worked on its marginal positioning. It is from this DNA that its new True name offer is based, an offer dedicated particularly to the LGBTQIA+ community and which surfs on the transgender trend.

FACTS

• True Name is a new feature that will allow transgender and non-binary people to choose the first name that will appear on their payment cards.

• Until now, the name on the credit card was automatically the name you entered when you placed the order.

• For its 2.8 million customers, the marital status will no longer necessarily be the name that appears on their card. The first name displayed on the card may be a middle name chosen by the user.

• Nickel has just announced this change to include even more. This is particularly true for transgender and non-binary people, who face a lot of prejudice and discrimination that the LGBTQIA+ community faces.

• The TRUE NAME card is made in partnership with Mastercard.

• This first name change will be possible directly from the Nickel application from early 2023.

• The neobank has posted a video to present its new offer: https://twitter.com/i/status/1592444690967805953

ISSUES

• A marginal DNA: Since its launch in 2014, the Nickel account, known as the bankless account, has forged an image on the fringes of traditional banking players. Since its takeover in 2017, the neo-bank has come a long way, but it retains a singular target and positioning, which includes a particular focus on inclusion issues. After having been one of the first accounts for people who are not allowed to bank, after having generalised the notch for visually impaired people on their cards, after having allowed access to more than 190 nationalities to open an account, Nickel

• Exceptional growth: since its launch in early 2014 with up to 1,500 account openings per day by the end of 2021. In the French mobile bank ranking, Nickel is second behind Boursorama Banque. Today, Nickel is expanding abroad, Belgium and Portugal since September 2022 and Germany in early 2023.

MARKET PERSPECTIVE

• Nickel says the project started with surveys sent to customers in May 2021 to learn more about users' needs.

• The co-president of Inter-LGBT, Elisa Koubi, made the connection between this initiative and "the recommendation of the Defender of Rights in 2016 that French banks take into account the first name of their customers who request it". The Defender of Rights being an independent constitutional authority in operation since 2011.

• In February 2021, Nickel was one of the first neobanks to offer a bank card that can be personalised with the name of the holder and a choice of 5 colours (or the image of the regions), unlike the standard orange bank card.