BANKING ON THE FUTURE

The future of the banking industry certainly remains to be written, but at Societe Generale we are involved in building it with our clients. However, even in an economically degraded context, with strong technological acceleration, our goal is to always bring more value to our customers and respond to the economic, societal and environmental challenges which have accelerated with the crisis. Innovation and entrepreneurial culture are in the DNA of Societe Generale and its business activities. Coupled with responsibility, they are a driving force for building the bank of the future with our customers and employees.

In this context, Société Générale Global Banking & Investor Solutions, Societe Generale Private Banking and Franfinance discuss the future of banking, the trends emerging in their respective markets, the actions they have taken and are pursuing today and tomorrow to guarantee high-quality service and respond to the concerns of our customers.

TOWARDS A FULL CUSTOMER CENTRIC AND OPEN MODEL by Cécile Bartenieff, COO of Global Banking and Investor Solutions

With increasing competition from Fintechs and BigTechs, finance is no longer the preserved area of banks. We are seeing the emergence of embedded finance such as with some of the Asian models of WeChat and AntFinancial, which combine a one-stop shop for consumer payments and merchants’ marketplaces at your fingertips, providing a wealth of data that could then be used to develop new business models. Of course, there are different scenarios and our focus remains to serve our clients and colleagues with responsible and innovative solutions, but here is one view of what could happen tomorrow if we were to embrace some of these embedded finance models in Europe more largely.

For individual clients, banks will have to position themselves even more as “finance coaches” whose mission will be to help their clients optimize all financial aspects of their life, while being socially responsible. Banking activity can be grouped into three core processes: payment, credit and investment. Winners will be those who will make finance very simple to navigate for clients, with the right level of personalization and proactivity. This intimacy with the client, as well as a seamless journey, will retain brand loyalty. And we’re proud today at Societe Generale to see strong client engagement through our different channels, with 50% digital adoption among our 31 million clients worldwide, and with 57% adoption and 34 average connexion per months through digital for French clients. Yet, new entrants are setting the bar and we must keep reinventing the customer experience to meet new customer needs in this increasingly digital world. 

For SME and large corporates, we expect clients to continue to value their bank as a partner, able to accompany them in their growth as well as during more difficult times. To meet client expectations, banks will have to complement their traditional offer through solutions providing environmentally and socially responsible finance, as well as providing an integrated digital experience. B2B clients are working on the centralization and industrialization of their treasury processes, as well as the digitalization of their offer. They expect to have an almost real time view of all the business they do with a given bank, regardless of the country or the type of activity. Being multi banks for most of them, they will expect to operate in a fully seamless ecosystem, encompassing their banks but also the market players. It will require banks to integrate with the clients’ systems, be it TMS (Treasury Management System), ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) or trading ones. They also expect banks to move away from proprietary standards and embrace as much as possible the market standards, multi-dealer platforms and utilities, and developing mutualized solutions across banks. We are actively working on this through our API-based SG Markets platform.

Last but not least, the key asset in this journey is our People. As the supervisor of operations and IT, I make sure we can offer new skills for our staff, put emphasis on new roles through the organization such as UX, CX, Data Science, API developers and to implement an environment where they can thrive with Agile practices – a long term commitment! 

THE FUTURE OF CONSUMER CREDIT by Joseph Emmanuel Trojman, Franfinance

The health crisis has simultaneously intensified the dynamics of the consumer finance market and brought new expectations to the forefront, especially from distribution partners.

In the retail client segment, the sector is seeing a sharp uptrend at work. With more and more behaviours going digital and consumers taking back power, there is growing demand for expertise, instant gratification and a seamless experience. In such an ultra-competitive sector, increasingly converging with the payment industry, credit firms are expected to deliver an ever-shorter “time to decision” and “time to cash”. 

While clients have certainly set the bar high, technological barriers have come down, making it possible to meet their expectations in tight market-timing deadlines. In fact, the Open Banking competitive ecosystem has reached maturity, encouraging rapid synergies between major financial institutions and the expanding community of fintechs. If we look at the widespread adoption of technologies, the expanding use of digital identities, PFMs, data and AI by clients, and the near-total automation of credit approval processes form the pillars that will underpin the new consumer finance experience.

For distribution partners predominantly operating their business at POS or directly in the client’s home, social distancing rules have generated an additional complexity to overcome. Against this backdrop, credit institutions are tending to see their role change dramatically. Instead of merely funding sales, they are becoming more holistic providers for distributors, from the standpoint of helping them develop their business and navigate omnichannel distribution.

In both the B2C and B2B2C segments, business expertise, technological maturity and the ability to rapidly put new innovations to work are and will continue to be key differentiation drivers on the consumer finance market.

TOMORROW'S PRIVATE BANKING IN FRANCE by Valérie Bokobza & Carole Rigattieri, Societe Generale Private Banking

The Covid-19 crisis has ramped up the use of digital media by our clients and employees, while not only reaffirming the central role of private banking institutions in client relations but also underscoring the importance of the ties between private banking advisors, portfolio managers and digital tools. The sales teams have taken the time to help our clients learn how to use the various available features, sparking an increase in the volume of digital transactions in terms of credit transfers and stock market orders (3x more stock market orders placed in self-care mode in April/May compared to 2018/19). Clearly, self-care has taken on a whole new dimension in the different client segments (Private Banking, Wealth Management and 29H), spanning all age brackets.

We have successfully increased our contact points thanks to our digital solutions:

• SYNOE offers regular access to market analyses and financial advice, with the possibility of validating each transaction and accessing a platform of experts (22 publications sent year-to-date, 13 of which generated financial advice);
• 6,800 clients have activated MON PATRIMOINE, which gives clients a comprehensive view of their financial and non-financial assets, simulations on the various asset classes (solution based on asset aggregation and the Dialogue & Asset Allocation method)

New ways of interacting with our clients have been set up: videoconferencing, economic podcasts, etc. Most of our employees have been given digital tablets, and the adjustments made to our operating processes have helped keep the business up and running, with 97% of our teams teleworking during the initial lockdown period. Clients expressed great satisfaction with the service provided by their Private Banking branch.

RESPONSIBLE PRIVATE BANKING

Responsible Private Banking rests on 4 pillars: reducing our own environmental footprint, providing our clients with positive and sustainable investment solutions, acting responsibly and being a driving force for societal trends.

For example, we remodelled our Boulevard Haussmann offices with the goal of meeting environmental standards and thus cutting our water and energy bill by 70%.

Our asset management company, SG29, just signed the UNPRI (United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment) and has its sights set on expanding its range to include five SRI funds, with a target of investing 30% of AuM in SRI over the next few months. Our philanthropy centre of expertise helped our clients seeking a higher purpose for their wealth to create more than 15 foundations. Private Banking France just entered into a partnership with Philanthro Lab, which promotes community outreach programmes.

The current health crisis has proved that people will continue to be the main focus of attention in the coming years.

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