Posted Sep 27, 2022, 6:50 PMUpdated on Sep 27, 2022 at 7:20 p.m.
With the launch of Free in payments, it’s hard not to think of Orange in banking. But it’s striking how different these two strategies are.
Unlike Orange, Free focuses on the payments market. “We are a payment institution, we do not want to bank, hammered Tuesday George Owen, the boss of Stancer, the payment subsidiary of Free. We haven’t looked at what competitors are doing,” he added.
The setbacks of Orange Bank, which wanted to revolutionize the bank, however, must not have escaped him. Stancer, which announces “the payment revolution”, is attacking the professional market (merchants) where Orange is targeting end customers. Above all, he ensures that he is embarking on a sector where he has a long experience.
“Recurring payments, SEPA direct debits, transfers, credit card processing, handling and storage of data related to payments, lists Aurélien Beaujean, the product director, who was responsible for developing the solution. It’s been twenty years since they made payment at Free. »
The Orange show
The difference with Orange Bank is also found in the form. The launch of Stancer took place during a restricted press conference, organized in its small Paris office located not far from the headquarters of Iliad but without Xavier Niel. The presentation had been preceded by some enigmatic messages on social networks, a few days before, in a very “Free” style.
Nothing to do with the teasing skillfully orchestrated for several months by Orange, then the presentation of its banking offer in 2017. The CEO of the telecom operator, Stéphane Richard, at the initiative of this mobile banking project, was himself came to promote it during the traditional Orange event devoted to innovation, the “Show Hello” at the Salle Pleyel in Paris.
The threat was also taken seriously by all the local banks, which had not hesitated to retaliate with new digital offers. Given the size of the group with its 27 million customers in France, the strength of its brand and its large network of stores, the arrival of such a competitor was then enough to frighten.
Didn’t Stéphane Richard declare that he wanted to become “the Free of the bank” – a somewhat surprising expression in the mouth of a telecom operator competing with this same Free…
A more difficult bet
Five years later, the bet turns out to be more difficult than expected. The neobank has certainly attracted nearly 2 million customers, but it is struggling to make its heavy investments profitable. The fate of Orange Bank remains uncertain, following the departure of Stéphane Richard and the management reshuffle carried out by the group’s new boss, Christel Heydemann.
Orange Bank boss Paul de Leusse will be replaced from 1er October by Stéphane Vallois, the current Deputy Managing Director.
The project to launch a mobile bank was nevertheless more ambitious, more complex (because it is more regulated) than that of Free in terms of payment. It remains to be seen whether Xavier Niel’s group will wish to go further into financial services. Stancer already plans to make split payment a credit frontier service.
