REX: Hello Bank! Following Its Course
During an interview, Caroline Lehericey, Head of Hello Bank! France, reported on the progress achieved by this BNP Paribas brand as well as on their increasing ambitions. 2017 was a year for recovery, and confirmed the relevance of establishing synergies between BNP’s Mobile First strategy and their dedicated mobile subsidiary.
Hello Bank! attracted 80,000 new French customers in 2017 (roughly +30%); they now have 350,000 customers in France. Far from the 500,000 users milestone they were expecting at launch, but 2017 stands out as a recovery year for this brand. Over this same period, Hello Bank! insisted on the fact that French customers wanting to change bank considered it their favourite online institution.
In line with their initial targeting strategy, their customer segments are mostly composed of young urban connected people, ages 25 to 40. The head of Hello Bank! also stresses that its Mobile First approach actually meets customers’ expectations.
Hello Bank! isn’t just limited to a per-channel approach and has been expanding its set of offers. A Facebook Messenger chatbot was introduced last month, and other features should be presented in the months to come based on their focus on co-creating their services. The list of considered services includes cheque scanning, additional options for their payment cards (location-based card blocking/unblocking and customised spending limits), or even P2P transfers via Paylib. For each new feature a Proof of Concept applies with help from some customers prior to commercial launches.
Comments – Hello Bank! success matching ambitions
Hello Bank! was one of the first full-mobile banks in France; this may have slowed down their market take-up. Yet, the year 2017 proved to be pivotal: it enabled them to point out that their position is in line with their parent company’s strategy.
The addition of a chatbot to their set of offers should help them avoid falling behind when it comes to dealing with service automation and customer relation for day-to-day, easier to solve questions. This feature is fully consistent with Hello Bank! 100% mobile core offer. Hello Bank! also keeps focusing on rolling out new apps and services.
Hello Bank! appears successful and should contribute to strengthen the overall strategy implemented by BNP Paribas. Earlier this year, BNP explained that smartphones had to become priority channels for accessing banking services.