Orange finally peels open mobile-only bank
French telecoms firm Orange has launched its delayed mobile-only bank as it looks to tap into its current customer base.
As Banking Technology reported in January 2016, Orange outlined its plans for a new bank. While in April 2016, it made a significant stride in its mobile banking ambitions by acquiring a majority stake in financial services firm Groupama. At present, Orange owns 65% of the capital of Orange Bank and Groupama 35%.
However, there was a hitch in June, when Orange put the brakes on its plans after finding the proposition didn’t quite meet the standards.
In October, the drama appeared to be over as a spokesman for Orange said “the commercial launch will take place on 2 November”, confirming an earlier report by French newspaper La Tribune. They weren’t lying as today (2 November) it is now up and running.
In terms of the new bank, customers can subscribe directly from the mobile application, online or in one of Orange’s 140 certified stores.
Naturally, Orange is looking to attract its 30 million customers in France to its new bank. In fact, it is present in 29 countries, and according to the group has a customer base of 263 million customers worldwide at 31 December 2016, including 202 million mobile customers and 18 million fixed broadband customers.
From the bank launch, customers can get an account, a debit card, overdraft protection and an interest-bearing savings account. Additional services, such as credit and insurance, will gradually be included at unspecified times.
Other services include the usual suspects – contactless mobile payments, sending money by SMS, instant bank balances, temporary freezing of the debit card and 24/7 access to a bank advisory service. It says 100% of the transactions and interactions between the customer and Orange Bank can be carried out using a mobile phone.
Looking to the future, Orange’s objective is to reach €400 million in revenues in 2018 in the financial services field across all markets. It also aims to have more than two million customers in France.
This story was originally published on 20 April 2017 with the headline “Orange to peel open mobile-only bank”. The story was then updated on 3 October 2017 with the headline “Orange to peel open mobile-only bank in November” concerning details about the delay and the new launch date.
