Ben Bouheni, Faten <br/><br/>
Economic growth and the digitalization of French banks 

 -  2022.<br/>							 
<br/><br/> 82 
<br/><br/> New technologies and digitalization have had profound effects on all financial institutions, and are considered to be a key factor in Europe’s economic recovery. Our study uses an analysis of the 2016 annual reports of the two major French banking groups, BNP Paribas and Société Générale, to examine those banks’ strategies with regard to digitalization and the rise of artificial intelligence. We find that the emergence of new information and communication technologies has significantly changed the day-to-day operations of many sectors, including banking. Having failed to innovate in their customer relationships, banks have therefore seen new market players arise, offering high-quality services that perfectly meet customers’ expectations. These new players, 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 customers’ new, digital-first behaviors into their strategies. The age of putting the product ahead of the customer is now over. Customers must be the center of the bank’s attention, as they are no longer passive consumers. Rather, they are now active participants in the market, expressing their opinions freely and able to change banks whenever they want. In this challenging context, Société Générale and BNP Paribas are adopting two different strategies. The former is ready to buy out competitors, while the latter prefers to undertake collaborations with fintech companies in return for supporting their development. In other respects, however, the two companies have similar innovation strategies, particularly in online banking and digital payment systems. Société Générale seems to have realized what is at stake and adopted a digital strategy that is more “aggressive” than that of BNP Paribas. Nevertheless, it must be able to mirror the same accomplishments internally.