With 6 million customers, BoursoBank is in the lead among online banking establishments. The subsidiary of Société Générale does not intend to stop there. Explanations from its general director, Benoît Grisoni.
L’Express: What was the dynamic for BoursoBank in 2023?
Benoît Grisoni: We remained at a very high rate of acquisition, even higher than that of the previous year, since we recruited more than 1.4 million new customers in gross, and 1.2 million in net, to reach 6 million. customers at the start of 2024. Our attrition rate is quite low: around 3.5% per year, while this figure is more around 5% in traditional establishments. If some feared that digital would lead to a form of instability among customers, that is not at all what we are seeing. We are continuing our trajectory with the objective of reaching 8 million customers by 2026. We also want to be very profitable, with a target of 300 million euros in net profit by the same deadline.
Combining strong growth and profitability, isn’t that contradictory?
We must not oppose them! In recent years, in parallel with our growth, we have developed our income, which comes from financial commissions on savings products and the interest margin on deposits and credit. Thus, we have multiplied by 7 the number of customers over the last seven years, and our outstandings have multiplied by 4.5 over the same period.
The difference is explained by the fact that a large part of our customers arrived in the last two years. However, banking is a profession of stock and duration, because customers equip themselves as they need. In addition, our new clients do not have the same profile as those from the beginning. We attracted younger people, with less means. Last year, 50% of new customers were under 25 years old.
After an unfavorable period linked to the interest rate context, the environment is now much more buoyant. Finally, to be profitable, you have to be very cost efficient. This is our obsession at BoursoBank!
You offer an unrivaled spectrum of products for an online player. For what ?
We have 45 products and we think there are still a few hand-picked products missing. Our philosophy is this: just because people don’t buy everything on day one doesn’t mean it’s not fundamental to offer everything on day one. To keep your customers, it is essential to have a concentrated but comprehensive offer, which is constantly improving. If we had not made the Bourso+ booklet available at the end of 2022 and the term accounts at the beginning of 2023, we would never have collected 5 billion euros last year.
More sophisticated products, such as crowdfunding real estate or private equity, respond more to a need for diversification. We then seek to offer a differentiating offer. For example, in the case of crowdfunding real estate, by integrating it into the PEA-PME, which is a real innovation.
Can your catalog still grow?
We are considering better supporting high-net-worth clients, who have assets of 100,000 to 500,000 euros. This can involve products adapted to these profiles but also through services, with easy access to an advisor, for example. Our desire is to better meet the expectations of this clientele, which interests us, without distorting our model.
Do you plan to return to home loans this year?
Yes, because the real estate loan is a point of fixation of the relationship with the customer. However, we remain selective. Credit has never been a winning tool for us, and today we only offer it to our existing customers. We also favor the most mature profiles in the bank. Our credit production has been picking up very gradually since last fall. Our trajectory is quite ambitious, but the market dynamics are not very positive currently. We are still seeing a significantly lower level of activity than at the end of 2021.