Gardella, chief executive officer of Self Bank, a new joint venture
bank between la Caixa and France’s Société Générale aimed at the
mass market in Spain. He says the country’s ‘traditional’ banks can
do nothing to stop ever higher numbers of customers migrating to
online-only rivals.
La Caixa, Spain’s largest savings bank with 11 million
customers, has become the latest big player in the Spanish market
to invest in online banking. It has entered into an ambitious joint
venture with the online consumer subsidiary brand of France’s
Société Générale, Boursorama, to grab market share from established
rivals such as BBVA (Uno-e), Banco Santander (Openbank), ING Direct
Spain and Banesto (iBanesto).
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The Barcelona-based la Caixa has acquired a 49 percent stake in
Self Bank, a revamped version of an online bank previously
fully-owned by Boursorama (la Caixa is also a shareholder in
Boursorama, owning a 20.9 percent stake via its industrial holding
company, Criteria CaixaCorp).
The new bank used to trade under the brand
Self Trade Bank, having started as an online broker in 2003 before
acquiring bank status, and has inherited 24,000 clients.
La Caixa claims the alliance with Boursorama
is a key part of a strategy to expand into international markets,
as well as part of plans to boost its retail market business in
Spain. Boursorama has online banks in other countries – namely
France, the UK and Germany.
“Boursorama plays a double role in la Caixa’s
strategy,” a spokesperson told RBI. “It is a vehicle for
international expansion within a European-wide internet banking
project via Criteria CaixaCorp. On the other hand, it is also local
partner to develop an online bank that complements our strategy to
increase our penetration in the retail banking market.”
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By GlobalDataDespite deep concerns over the Spanish retail
banking market in 2009 (see country survey RBI 607), la
Caixa says there still are good opportunities in online banking
(though ING Direct’s Spanish profits dropped 22 percent in 2008 to
€43 million). La Caixa argues that Self Bank can carve itself an
extra space in the Spanish market as long as it follows a number of
basic tenets:
• keep structural costs low;
• offer a simple range of
products;
• make products and services
competitively priced; and
• have an “obsession” with customer
service.
Andrea Gardella, Self Bank’s chief executive
officer, offers another reason for the partnership between la Caixa
and SocGen: he says ‘traditional’ Spanish banks cannot stop ever
higher numbers of people migrating to online-only rivals. For la
Caixa in particular, it is strategically worthwhile, therefore,
that it takes a stake in a company which is pro-actively looking to
become a strong player in this fluid market.
The largest ATM network in
Spain
The partnership means Self Bank
clients will be able to make use of la Caixa’s network of 8,113
ATMs (the largest in Spain). Another important benefit will be the
association with the la Caixa brand, Gardella said. “Clients of
other banks who use la Caixa’s ATMs will be targeted by Self Bank
ads while using the terminals,” he told RBI (the same is
not going to happen, though, when la Caixa’s own clients obtain
cash from its ATMs, he added).
Self Bank intends to achieve its market share
and customer goals by offering innovative saving products and
brokerage services, Gardella added. He cites Tentuplica, a market
trading account where Self Bank lends the client €9 for every €1
invested in the stock markets. Another product, Alquila tus
acciones, enables retail clients to rent shares they own to other
retail investors who want to keep short positions.
“This kind of market place is common for
institutional investors, but we are the only bank that offers it
for retail investors too,” Gardella said.
The move in Spain also marks a new step in the
strategy of Boursorama by adding “new layers and turning [its
country units] into online banks,” he stated.
One key strategy will be to find
cost-effective ways to attract new clients according to local
market conditions. Previously Self Trade Bank answered to French
financial regulators, but now Self Bank is subjected to the same
rules of other Spanish banks – which, in Gardella’s view, is a
powerful tool against other players in the Spanish market, namely
ING Direct Spain.
“Will clients trust an online bank that is
supported by la Caixa and Société Générale, or another which is a
subsidiary of a foreign bank whose government had to come to its
rescue with billions of euros?” he asked.
Gardella also said that the fact Self Bank is
an independent entity with the support of a major local bank
enables it to adopt a more aggressive approach than domestic
rivals. “I don’t think online subsidiaries of Spanish banks can go
as far as we can,” he said.
Self Bank’s largest competitor will, however,
be la Caixa itself: the savings bank claims to have the largest
number of online banking customers in Spain with a 20.9 percent
share of the total.
|
Distribution |
|||
|
Spain – selected banks ranked by |
|||
|
Branches |
Retail customers (m) |
Cost-income ratio FY08 |
|
|
la Caixa |
5,530 |
10.7 |
45.2 |
|
Santander (Spain only) |
4,800E |
11.2 |
35.5 |
|
BBVA |
3,375 |
9E |
33.9 |
|
Banco Popular |
2,504 |
6.8 |
31.8 |
|
Banco Sabadell |
1,208 |
n/d |
43.9 |
|
Banco Pastor |
665 |
n/d |
35.9 |
|
Bankinter |
372 |
1.5E |
47.2 |
|
ING Direct Spain |
0 |
1.84 |
n/d |
|
E= estimate. n/d not disclosed Source: |
|||
