BPE recently announced the acquisition of La Banque Postale Immobilier Conseil (LBPIC), another subsidiary of the public banking group, for an unspecified sum. Through this operation, the bank aims to further establish itself in private banking. Read more.
Entering the closed market of private banks
As a reminder, La Banque Postale acquired the BPE network, an acronym for European Private Bank, from Crédit Mutuel Arkéa in April 2013. Founded in 1963, the bank offered mortgage loans in particular. Today, with dedicated services, it supports more than 60,000 customers with significant wealth, businesses or assets.
In early June, BPE signed an agreement to acquire LBPIC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of La Banque Postale, created in 2010 and employing around 50 people. BPE intends to stand out from its competitors by offering its customers a direct real estate investment solution to diversify their assets. " Our combined expertise will enable us to achieve our primary objective: to grow our private banking business in France," explains Jean-MarcRibes, Chairman of BPE's Management Board and Chairman of the Board of Directors of La Banque Postale Immobilier Conseil.
BPE's rise to prominence in the private banking market is also illustrated by its desire to acquire the Meeschaert bank. However, La Banque Postale's private bank is not the only one interested. For the time being, 3 other candidates are still in the running: Rothschild & Co, investor Gilles Etrillard and Oddo BHF.
Nearly 10 billion in outstandings
Since its takeover by La Banque Postale, BPE has gone from strength to strength. In 5 years, its assets under management have almost doubled, to 9.7 billion in Q1 2020. Its net banking income (NBI) has risen sharply to 140 million euros in 2019.
Several factors explain this exceptional growth. Firstly, the merger of La Banque Postale's two private banking entities (BPE and LBPGP) in 2015 enabled the establishment to recapture many of the group's wealth management customers. Today, BPE's customers are mainly SME managers, executives and large families. "We manage to have it both ways: by developing our own customer base, and by offering La Banque Postale customers private banking services and offerings to which they previously had no access," explains Jean-Marc Ribes.
To make a difference, the private bank is also banking on its 30 branches opened since 2017, mainly in medium-sized towns. BPE spaces are opened directly in post office branches to maintain a close link with customers. It remains to be seen whether this will be enough to keep its grip on a highly concentrated market.