Orange Bank is on a roll

Cutting through the noise at Mobile World Congress is a tough job but Orange’s play for the financial industry is certainly a good attempt.

After a successful venture in the French market, Orange Bank CEO Paul De Leusse gave us a brief run-down of future plans for the business. Spain is on the horizon, as is Poland, while the African markets are going to be given some more love.

“The aim of Orange is to build banks in every country we operate as a telco,” said Leusse. “We want a bank which benefits from the telco and brings benefit to the telco.”

It’s a bold ambition for the business, though there certainly is strong progress being made. At the end of 2018, Orange Bank had 248,000 customers, only 40,000 of which were Orange employees, while the synergies between the telco and the bank are very apparent. 150 of the telcos branches now have banking sales people, each of which can open more than 12 accounts a month. Compared to a traditional banking representative opening three or four a month, the numbers are encouraging.

Looking at where the telco benefits the financial business, the facts are somewhat surprising. Using telco data, Leusse claims he can take out the 30% of customers who represent 80% of the credit risk, while the insight on risk is more reliable than the data from the Romanian credit bureau. And of course, the benefits head the other direction as well.

Those customers who have both a banking and telco relationship with Orange are 15% more satisfied, while churn has been decreased. The Polish business has seen a 18% churn reduction, while Orange Money customers in Africa are 40% less likely to. Orange is a massive believer in the convergence business model, but this is taking the idea to another level.

Interestingly enough, fortunes could be greater on the road, with the Spaniards the next to get the banking dream.

Leusse pointed out the in Spain there is no need for the sales staff to be certified by the financial regulator, perhaps suggesting there will be a larger retail footprint. The Spanish market is digitally more advanced than the French, with customers more readily embracing the new normality of the internet.

According to research quoted by Leusse, 77% of Spaniards suggest they would happily do without a banker, while the number is only 51% in France. 66% of Spanish customers would also be open to being advised by Djingo, the telcos digital assistant, while this number is only 50% in France. Launching a bank in Spain could be just as a promising opportunity as France, maybe even bigger.