As of February 2023, the cheapest banks in France were two online banks, Boursorama Banque and Fortuneo, both with annual bank charges of 2.78 euros. They were followed by another online bank, Orange Bank, with an annual bank charge of 24.98 euros. At traditional banks, such as Crédit Coopératif, customers have to pay significantly higher fees. From 2006 onwards, the share of the French population using internet banking services increased significantly and reached more than 70 percent by 2017.
Online banking practices
Online banking, an electronic banking system, allows customers to carry out payments and various transactions using the Internet, and can be both part of traditional financial institutions’ services and virtual banks. In 2021, among French people aged 25 to 34 years old, more than 80 percent used online banking. In addition to this, it appears that 51 percent of French surveyed in 2020 declared having downloaded the banking app of their bank on their mobile phone.
Digital payments and FinTech
Online payment methods appear to be rather popular among French consumers. According to a study conducted in France in early 2018, half of the respondents said having used online payments services and about a third had employed payment services between individuals. Statista’s Market outlook on the FinTech market reports that the digital payments segment amounted to more than 71 billion euros for the year 2018.
