By akademiotoelektronik, 25/01/2023

Exceed one million customers by 2025: Interview with Alice Holzman, Managing Director of my French Bank

Alice Holzman fell very small in telephony.She attended the infancy of the mobile at Orange, where she spent a large part of her career.In 2015, she launched the Ma French Bank project, a subsidiary mobile bank of the postal banking, and thus brings her understanding of the uses and needs of telephony in the banking world.Alice Holzman is director general of the structure, which has around 180 employees.She tells us about her convictions, the brand's philosophy, the singularity of her offers and the new features to come.

My French Bank is a very recent mobile bank, can you tell us more about its history and its ambitions?

My French Bank is a very young digital bank indeed, we have barely over two years.We were born in July 2019 on a very abundant market.

We wanted to create a bank that allows you to do everything in a simple and intuitive way from your mobile.The goal was to meet the needs of those who want to manage their account with ease on their mobile.It was the starting point.

We arrived on a market where there were already a lot of players.We did not want to be yet another bank that looks like all the others and which would have gone unnoticed.We wanted to create a service that was going to be part of an existing universe: that of La Poste and La Banque Postale.We have built a service that has the same values of proximity, confidence, simplicity and accessibility.We wanted to embody this DNA in the digital universe.

How are your values concretely embody in your services?

Regarding accessibility and opening to all, there are no income conditions to be fulfilled to open an account with us.

In addition to the possibility of opening an account via smartphone, our customers can open an account from a post office.My French Bank is now sold in 3000 post offices, everywhere in France, including overseas.You can open an account in ten minutes, with the customer officer who is present in the offices.All legal checks are made in real time to ensure a safe opening.At the exit of the post office, the customer leaves with a bank card and an activated account.It only has to download the Ma French Bank application, make a first payment and use your account.

Still in the accessibility logic, we have a customer service based in Lille, with advisers who respond from Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. as well as Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m..Even when you are comfortable with digital, the opening of an account may be complicated: telephone support is therefore always appreciated.

So is that not quite the end of banking agencies?

I do not believe.There are things that we do that comes from everyday life with your account: make a transfer, declare a claim to your insurance, check your balance ... But for more fundamental subjects, such as preparing for retirement or finance the studies of yourchildren, I remain convinced that human exchange remains essential.If in doubt, when you need to be accompanied, I think it is essential to be able to speak to an advisor, if you wish.You have to distinguish between what is done automatically at any time without waiting for an exchange, and what requires chatting with someone.

And finally, does my French bank affect a large audience?

Today, we have more than 400,000 customers and we are in the top 5 dynamics of conquest of digital banks on the French market.

The challenge, with my French Bank, was to reach more people and especially more young people.The objective is achieved since 60% of our customers are under 38 years old, and even 50% under 35 years old.It's quite logical: today, those who are used to managing everything via their phone are the youngest.But we remain atypical in the landscape of neobancs because, despite everything, we are not only aiming for this population.

What is the range of offers from my French Bank?

We started with a single type of account, the original account.We display our game entry rate.For us it was important to say that it is not free.We assume it.On the other hand, the price is all inclusive.The account costs € 2.90 per month, but there is no fees abroad, the customer has an international contact without contact, the possibility of making payments by SMS, the possibility of paying with his smartphone, a print kitty, a piggy bank that allows you to put small sums aside ... The perimeter of services is very wide, while always having in sight to facilitate management.

In November 2020, we launched an offer for minors aged 12 to 17, the Westart account, because it was a request that had been brought to us.We wanted use to be easy for the child and that parents control be also simple.The parent can thus manage the payment ceilings very easily, for example.In our accessibility logic, even if parents are not customers of the postal bank or my French bank, they can open an account for their minor child.

You have just launched the “Ideal” offer...

Exactly, it's a more premium offer.The payment ceiling is higher, CB insurance is more extensive.

There are also two innovative axes in this offer.

The first is an axis around purchasing power with cashback and vouchers.For cashback, it is a fully integrated and simple service.As soon as we pay with one of the partner stores, we are reimbursed for part of the purchase.As for the vouchers, they are integrated into the app and can be used very quickly.All this can be accumulated with special offers in stores.It is possible that in a single purchase, account costs are profitable!

The second axis is that it is a civic offer.We have associated ourselves with two foundations: Break Poverty, which is committed to inclusion by education;and Goodplanet, which acts for biodiversity.When you subscribe to the ideal account, you can choose between 3 cards: the classic, free, the one brandished in the colors of GoodPlanet or the one in the colors of Break Poverty.These last two cost 5 €, which are fully donated to the chosen foundation.It is a simple way to offer our customers to give a boost to one of these foundations, if they wish.In parallel, my French Bank undertakes to donate € 30,000 each year to each of these two structures.

The takeoff of this offer is very successful.The purchasing power axis speaks a lot to the French today.But I also believe that the commitment we offer customers count.Today, 40% of customers who have subscribed to the ideal account have chosen to donate to one of the foundations.This is very good news: the proposal meets its audience.Obviously, customers are happy to have a card that reflects their commitment.

We were accompanied by Goodeed, a subsidiary of KisskissBankBank, for the choice of these 2 foundations.Personally, I am happy that we wear these 2 causes.Regarding GoodPlanet, I think that today no one can say that he is insensitive to the urgency of acting to preserve the environment.As for Break Poverty, I find that education is a fundamental subject for a society: acquiring a competence is the best way to get out of poverty.

What do you respond to the detractors of mobile banks?

Very often, concern towards mobile banks is security.But today, banks are all digital!The digital universe of mobile banks is not more risky than other banking universes.

What matters is the quality of the actor.My French Bank benefits from bank approval, we are subject to all the necessary controls and we are a subsidiary of a large banking group.Our structures and processes are supervised and carried by this large group, I think it is a reassuring point of reference.And then generally, unfortunately, it is not the banking systems that are deficient, there are malicious individuals who are phishing.My message: let's all stay vigilant in sharing our data.

And tomorrow, what will my French Bank offer?

We aim to exceed one million customers by 2025.We would like to continue to develop our ability to meet the needs of teens and the general public.

We would also like to develop our credit and savings offers.We put the first bricks and we would like to go further.Likewise on the insurance side, we will certainly have enrichments to bring.

The spine will remain that everything is doable from your phone, in a simple and intuitive way!