The payment application between friends is changing dimensions. “Our ambitions on this banking part are great,” explains Cyril Chiche, the co-founder and president of Lydia, on franceinfo.
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It is an application that has entered our lives so much that it has become a common name. The application specialized in payments, Lydia, is over 10 years old and now has seven million users. Cyril Chiche, co-founder and president of Lydia, is Franceinfo’s eco guest on Monday March 25.
franceinfo: Lydia has new ambitions. Do you want to turn your millions of users into real customers? ?
First and foremost, we want to bring to all financial services the same simplicity, the same intuitiveness, but also cheaper costs, as we did for money exchanges between friends. And so indeed, little by little, we want to get some of our customers to have a primary bank account with Lydia.
You have 7 million users. How much do you want to convert into customers?
We obviously have big ambitions on this banking part. We want to count in millions in France.
“We consider that today there is room to create the current account of the generation which says ‘I’ll make you a Lydia’.”
Cyril Chicheon franceinfo
The idea is that there is a need for something new, which is not traditional banking or traditional online banking. Because the online banks we have today are mostly more than 20 years old. And we are pretty sure that we have a lot of assets to enable us to become this reference player for this younger generation, who do not understand the unnecessary complexities of banking.
Today, only half of Lydia accounts are active at least once a month.
It’s debatable whether that’s a lot or not a lot.
“Today, more than a third of a generation – in the 18-30 age group in France, is active on Lydia every month.”
Cyril Chicheon franceinfo
On the scale of the entire population, this is probably not huge, but on the scale of a generation, it is a lot.
And so these are potential customers. What are you going to offer them that a traditional bank doesn’t offer them?
First and foremost a different experience. A different current account experience. By its simplicity, by its inclusiveness, by its clarity. And also by the fact that there are no small lines, there are no hidden costs, it’s free.
You still offer a card, this shows that the bank card holds up very well compared to payments by mobile phone, for example. So, finally you offer services that are also worthy of an old bank…
We must offer the services that people need. And today there are a number of configurations in which a plastic card is needed. Typically, you need to withdraw cash in France or abroad, you have no choice, you need a plastic card. Obviously, we propose this solution. However, if we look at our transactions, most transactions are made by mobile. And when I say mobile, that also means with in-store payment and online payment via digital cards in the application. And there, we can clearly see that it is very dominant in the percentage of transactions with us.
“With us, more than 75% of transactions are not made with a plastic card.”
Cyril Chicheon franceinfo
I’m not talking about reimbursement transactions here, but only card transactions. So we have already switched to the non-materialized card for the vast majority of Lydia users’ transactions.
Do we necessarily have to become a “classic” bank with its own services to be profitable today?
We must become a non-traditional bank.
Despite Lydia’s notoriety today, it is difficult to make a profit from this activity. ?
The activity of exchange between individuals is almost impossible. For a simple reason, it is that we defined the sector ourselves and we made it free. This had an advantage, obviously, which is that it made it extremely easy for millions of people to get started. And that has value. But on the other hand, a business absolutely must be profitable and the path to profitability is now quite clear and quite close. And so, obviously, we are deploying a strategy over time to strengthen, to deepen the nature of the services that we offer to our customers with ever more value, which they are willing to pay for, obviously.
Except that it’s a special profession, banking. We have seen online banks which have fumbled, which have transformed themselves. Orange Bank, Ma French Bank for La Banque Postale, have had mixed success.
Failures, it must be said. It’s a profession that is complicated, it’s a profession that has a very strong, sensitive emotional dimension, because we’re talking about trust first and foremost, and that can’t be bought outright. of billions. We saw it, indeed, you said it well. We’ve been building this trust with millions of users for over a decade. You have noted this well and it is on this confidence and this proof of seriousness and sustainability that we rely to gradually progress the offer that we make available to our users. And that’s why now, more than a million users trust us to be their main account.