BPCE, French banking group managing the Crédit Agricole and the Banque Populaire, will invest EUR 600 million a year in digital transformation by 2020. The investment is part of the strategic plan of the group, ‘TEC 2020’, which will be spread over two years, starting 2018.  The plan aims to “seize opportunities created by the ongoing technological revolution”, centre the group’s strategic alignement around customers and optimise the growth of its core businesses.

The plan follows the 2014 – 2017 ‘An Other Way To Grow’ protocol and pursues the digital transformation initiated then, as the business choices made so far were, according to the group, fruitful.

According to François Pérol, Chairman of the Groupe BPCE Management Board: “The digital revolution is the big issue for banks over the coming the years and this is duly reflected in the name of our new strategic plan, TEC 2020. This plan comprises new engagements toward our clients – to whom we intend to bring more expertise, value-added solutions and satisfaction -, toward our employees – so as to support them in the transformation of their jobs, to equip them with better tools and with the goal of attracting even more talent -, and toward our cooperative shareholders – because a bank that belongs to its clients needs to serve the society in which it operates.”

For further details, read the press release here.

BPCE is not the only one in France to draw such plans, as we saw this week that the Société Générale is considering cutting down 15% of its workforce, a decision resulting in 3,450 job cuts by 2020. The bank’s number of branches will also plummet, as 300 bricks-and-mortar locations will close down. According to the bank’s press release, this decision “will be based primarily on internal mobility, and also natural and voluntary departures.”

By Jean Leguy, Research Coordinator at Holland FinTech