Awards for Excellence 2017
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European banks announced numerous investment pledges in digital banking over the last year. The best banks see technology not as a threat but as an opportunity to grow. They are partnering with and investing in fintech disrupters.
On both these fronts, BNP Paribas stands out. Other banks realize the value of this approach, but partnering with fintech companies fits neatly with the French firm’s bolt-on acquisition strategy. It was not just a statement of intent, but also a reflection of a journey already begun, when BNP Paribas announced in February it would spent €3 billion on digitization in its new three-year plan. A Europe-wide network of incubator centres and tech labs associated with the bank (several launched this year) is evidence of that.
In retail banking, Hello bank! – the mobile-only bank BNP Paribas launched in 2013 – had notched up 2.5 million customers by the end of the awards period, with a network covering Belgium, France, Austria, Italy and, perhaps most interestingly, Germany.
This year saw BNP Paribas’ car leasing arm launch a fleet-management telematics product, Arval Active Link, in markets including Spain, and start a new data partnership with PSA Group, Active Arval Access. The bank launched new mortgage mobile applications in France and Belgium. Then there was the merger of Wa! and Fivory to create a single French mobile payments platform involving Carrefour, Crédit Mutuel, Auchan, MasterCard, Oney and Total.
Just outside the awards period, BNP Paribas announced the acquisition of 100% of Financière de Paiements Électroniques (FPE), the French firm launched in 2013 and distributed through tobacconists as Compte-Nickel. FPE has already gained 550,000 customers who deposit salaries, send and receive payments and use a MasterCard, at a charge of €20 a year. Although the network is physical, the scheme benefits from 100% digital processing and real-time treatment of payment transactions.
Digitization is just as important to BNP Paribas in corporate banking, with the integrated Centric platform, in which BNP Paribas completed its first real-time blockchain payments for two corporate clients in December. The Cortex markets platform, including Cortex iX, for algorithmic trading, is another part of the bank’s digitization drive. In wealth management, too, it launched a string of new digital products in January, such as biometric identification.
In May 2016, its securities services division launched a new unit for piloting and investing in new technology. In January, it said it was taking a minority stake in Fortia Financial Solutions, a software firm using artificial intelligence, machine learning and business-process monitoring to help the fund industry tackle compliance issues and manage data.
