Unprofitable, Ma French Bank should soon no longer exist. The Postal Bank announced on Wednesday that it was studying a “project to cease activities” for its online bank and on Monday initiated an information and consultation procedure with unions in this regard.
“Despite undeniable success with customers, Ma French Bank has not achieved profitability and has not yet found its economic model,” notes the banking subsidiary of the La Poste group, in a press release. “In an extremely competitive market, (…) massive investments would be necessary for the development of Ma French Bank”, adds the establishment, but this “orientation no longer appears compatible with the group’s strategic plan”.
A subsidiary of 161 employees
In the event of a closure of activity over a period estimated between 12 and 18 months, the 161 employees of Ma French Bank “would be offered to continue their careers within the group”, specifies the Postal Bank. “The reclassification of French Bank employees” constitutes a “real challenge given the prospects of non-replacement of departures in the parent company”, denounces the Sud PTT union in a press release Wednesday evening.
The 750,000 customers of Ma French Bank would be redirected towards the physical network of the Postal Bank, through its presence in 7,000 post offices. However, La Banque Postale does not rule out the sale of the customer portfolio to a possible buyer.
A complicated period for online banks
The online banking market is going through a complicated period in France. Two players, ING and Orange Bank, have already thrown in the towel, their clients being encouraged to migrate to Boursorama, a subsidiary of Société Générale, for the first, and to Hello Bank!, a subsidiary of BNP Paribas, for the second.
Noting the lack of profitability of its online banking subsidiary BforBank, Crédit Agricole on the other hand made the opposite choice in September, by repositioning the brand and giving it new ambitious objectives.
The Postal Bank wants to refocus on its fundamentals
After a period of all-out development led by the previous chairman of the management board, Philippe Heim (overhaul of private banking, acquisition of an asset manager, development of consumer credit, etc.), the Postal Bank is now seeking to refocus on its fundamentals. In any case, this is the mandate of the new chairman of the management board, Stéphane Dedeyan, former boss of CNP Assurances (joined last year from Banque Postale) and who arrived at this position at the beginning of August. But for the Sud PTT union, “the waltz of the bank’s leaders” and the “complexity” of the group “make its strategy difficult to read”.
La Banque Postale, a subsidiary of La Poste, itself owned by the Caisse des Dépôts (CDC) and the State, claims 20 million individual customers, businesses and local public sector players in France.