20-Somethings Show French Banks Falling Behind on Branch Cuts
- Fewer branches, more mobile is the way to woo younger clients
- French banks are among slowest in Europe at cutting branches
Customers use automated teller machines (ATM) outside a branch of Societe Generale SA in Paris.
Photographer: Jason Alden/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Jean-Baptiste Esmenjaud, 26, hasn’t set foot in his bank in over five years.
“La Banque Postale lets me do everything online, and I speak over the phone once a year with an adviser,” said the biology student, a decade-long customer of the state-backed bank whose 9,000-plus French branches gives it one of Europe’s biggest such networks. “I’ve been moving a lot and I took a year off to travel around the world. For me this is the only way to bank.”