The effects of French banks’ digitalisation on economic growth[Digitalisation des banques françaises et reprise économique]

Innovative finance and digitization have become a feature of all financial institutions and are considered as a key factor in economic recovery in Europe. This study is based on the analysis of the 2016 annual reports of the two major French banking groups (BNP Paribas and Société Générale). Its purpose is to analyze their strategies in the context of global digitization and artificial intelligence emergence. The analysis of the annual reports of BNP Paribas and Société Générale in 2016 shows that the emergence of new information and communication technologies has significantly changed the daily operations of many industries, including banking sector. In fact, banks are using digital and internet technologies in their dealings with customers and in their internal processes. Banks, failing to innovate in the customer relationship, have therefore seen new entrants with high-quality services that fit perfectly with customers' expectations. These new protagonists, such as Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Uber, have positioned themselves in highly profitable segments of the banking market. In addition to the strong competition in this market, banks must now integrate into their strategies the new behaviors that their customers have adopted as a result of dealing with digitalization on a daily basis. The old strategy of putting the product ahead of the customer is now over. Customers must be at the center of the company's attention because they are no longer passive consumers. They are now activists who express their opinions freely and can change banks whenever they want. Facing this challenging context, the Société Générale and BNP Paribas groups are adapting two different strategies. The first is willing to make acquisitions, while the second prefers to collaborate with start-up and the Fintech sector, but both have almost the same innovation strategies, particularly at the level of online banking and digital payment methods. Société Générale seems to have become aware of the stakes that follow this development by adapting an "aggressive" digital strategy compared to BNP Paribas. Nevertheless, it must reproduce the same efforts that it has been able to achieve for its customers, internally.