Surge in the use of remote banking services driven by the pandemic
Groupe BPCE, which already won popular acclaim for its mobile applications in 2019, has significantly increased the resources available to its remote banking services during the pandemic.
Although 90% of the Group’s retail branches remained open, online banking services also attracted customers in increasing numbers. Groupe BPCE was the first French bank capable of offering large-scale access to its Sign'it electronic signature for business customers in both the Banque Populaire and Caisse d'Epargne networks who wanted to take out State-guaranteed loans (SGL). Individual customers have been encouraged to use mobile applications for all their daily transactions and to favor the use of text messages when communicating with their branches or for cardless cash withdrawals from ATMs. Particular emphasis has been placed on education and support, such as the customer demo tool designed to guide users step-by-step through the different processes.
Driven by the Covid-19 crisis, the faster rollout of these services was made possible thanks to Groupe BPCE's Digital Inside strategy launched two years ago, an advantage for both customers and employees. Proof of this success is the fact that the Group's banks boasted the highest traffic, customer engagement and satisfaction levels among French banks in the latest analysis published by D-rating, the corporate digital performance rating agency, carried out at the beginning of the pandemic and lockdown period. These services also represent a key asset for the future.
Some key figures:
Net Promoter Score(1) of +42 for the Banque Populaire banks and Caisses d'Epargne (+2 points during the crisis)
Sign'it used by 5,000 in-house account managers (Banque Populaire banks and Caisses d'Epargne)
2,500 SGL contracts signed per day on average, almost half within one hour
40,000 SGLs signed using the Sign'it solution (as at mid-May)
76% of principal active customers (Banque Populaire and Caisse d'Epargne networks) use digital channels (+1 percentage point during the crisis)
(1) NPS: a management tool used to gauge customers’ willingness to recommend a company’s products or services.