Societe Generale and Crédit du Nord have just merged. The two networks of retail banks are now one, under the new name of “SG” bank. Within it, 10 million customers divided between individuals and professionals on savings, payment, insurance or credit products. The end of a long transition period started in December 2020.
The “SG” brand is the new so-called national brand. In the regions, new names are also coming. They are ten new regional brands since January 1, 2023: SG Crédit du Nord, SG Grand Est SG Laydernier, SG Auvergne Rhône Alpe, SG Smc, SG Courtois, SG Sud Ouest, SG Tarneaud, SG Grand Ouest and SG Société Générale en Ile -de-France and Corsica.
As the speech indicates, the new group wants to emphasize proximity and physical presence, with a “new relational model”. It is indeed at a time when online banks and fully digital models are in the spotlight that Societe Generale and Crédit du Nord have had to join forces. Many customers have turned to Boursorama Banque (4.3 million customers), or to neo-banks like Revolut and the Nickel account.
As for the consequences for customers, they will normally be invisible. During the first half of 2023, SG Bank has planned several waves for the fusion of its customers’ data. This concerns the computer part. On the agency side, the “regrouping” will take another two years before all the points of sale have merged. By the end of the year, 30% will be effective, 80% by the end of 2024 and the rest spread over the year 2025.
© Societe Generale
The traditional model under threat
But in reality, the traditional model of the SG bank hides a much less optimistic situation in France. First, the number of agencies has fallen sharply in recent years, the number of advisers too. The situation will not improve over time: 3,700 jobs have been cut and 650 branches will be closed in the next three years. In France, over the past ten years, more than 3,750 branches have disappeared, all banks combined.
Also, procedures with banks that still have a physical anchorage cost a lot of money, especially if they can be done online. In France, bank charges have steadily increased to more than 219 euros today per year, where the cheapest online bank in France charges only 7.79 euros. Account maintenance fees are the main culprits for the price difference. But in the end, they mainly result from the price to be paid for a physical network.
The (failed) attempt of a neo-bank at Crédit du Nord
At Crédit du Nord, before the takeover of Societe Generale, ambitions were also towards digital and fintech. We remember the presentation with great fanfare of the neo-bank Prismea (intended for professionals), launched in Lyon, which had also been incubated originally by a Societe Generale program.
Despite its potential anchorage with 840 Crédit du Nord branches, the start-up ceased its activities on October 21, 2022. It was also impossible to deposit a check or cash, the number of transfers was limited and withdrawals were chargeable (1 euro ). On the BNP Paribas side, physical presence also has a price at fintech. This is how the Nickel account makes its customers pay for several operations that they could carry out by themselves, on their application.
Societe Generale does not want to tell the public, but its interest in Boursorama Banque in retail banking could one day exceed that of SG bank. Its rate of acquisition of new customers is just colossal: no less than 1.2 million more have opened an account in one year, from September 2021 to September 2022. This is worth more than the million customers that it has in everything and for everything BNP Paribas with its Hello bank! online bank.
In July 2022, we took advantage of an interview with the managing director of Boursorama Banque Benoit Grisoni to ask him for his opinion on the question of cohabitation between the two retail banks. He answered us:
“Société Générale is merging with Crédit du Nord and they will have 10 million customers. We are still far from it at Boursorama. Second, Societe Generale has very different customers. There is something that is always underestimated in retail banking: the professionals. Small, medium and large companies represent a colossal activity. This is more than 60% of the bank’s GNP. It is therefore a very important activity in retail banking compared to Boursorama”.
