MsMvil and Orange, the telemarketers that most exploit their financial branch

The green light of Banco de Espaa to the MsMvil credit institution is the last step in the disparate strategy in the financial branch of telephone operators. While Vodafone breaks that path, Telefnica increases its presence and Orange accelerates: it is about to open its own bank.

Xfera Consumer Finance has just received authorization to operate in Spain as a credit and payment entity and is constituted by the MsMvil Group, with 49%, and Cetelem, a Spanish subsidiary of BNP Paribas, with 51% .MsMvil's alliance with BNP, which began two years ago, allows not only the financing of mobile phones and other purchases of its customers, but also others credit products and services, although without reaching the full range of deposits and mortgages offered by a bank.

That's what I will do soon Orange, which received full bank authorization on April 1 and, at the end of this year, opened its bank in Spain: Orange BankBe a branch of the same-named bank that debuted in France in November 2017 – based on Groupama, an entity whose shareholding control took a year earlier – and that already has more than 300,000 clients. France brings benefits to the group in its sixth year, starting in 2022.

The launch of the bank in Spain is directed by Narciso Perales Dominique, who was director of digital transformation at Bankinter. Orange sources have confirmed to Efe that they are planning to start operating in Spain before the end of 2019. Since 2015 and until it operates its own bank, Orange offers financing to its customers through an agreement with Santander.

Telefnica, more restrained

Telefonica has also increased its presence in the financial sector, but in a more restrained way.The teleco lder created a 50% joint venture with CaixaBank in 2014 (Telefnica Consumer Finance) to finance the purchase of mobile phones and other devices for its customers.In 2017 I climbed another step, when creating Movistar Money and offering consumer loans to those who have already financed the purchase of a device, with a limit up to 3,000 euros.

In 2019, it has allowed these pre-granted credits (without documentation or opening fees) to reach up to 4,000 euros and that are not linked to the purchase of any device or previous financing, so it is enough to be a user of Movistar.The sources of the The company consulted by Efe does not reveal whether this diversification of the main business will have more travel in the future. In any case, Telefonica has experience in exploring new vas, as it has done in the world of television and audiovisual content, of cloud storage , of the management of vehicles, video games, insurance and alarms or reading of books and digital magazines (Nubico).

Vodafone stays out of the bank

In Vodafone Spain there are no plans to step on the banking ground, even though they also made a raid years ago, as did the other operators, when the time in which the telecos subsidized the mobile phones to attract or keep customers ended. Vodafone's alliance was with BBVA and at the end they studied a new one with Bankinter, but not fruitful, since the operator decided to offer the financing of its terminals with its own resources, with authorization as a credit institution.

This possibility is maintained, but only for customers, always linked to the acquisition of devices and with a maximum of 3,000 euros. In addition, I decided to go back in other services, such as payment with the mobile, since in April 2018 I closed Vodafone Wallet .

Operator sources explain to Efe that this market was very saturated in Europe, as well as consider that the pre-agreed consumption credit sector is covered (with a lot of supply and only demand in the "low end" niche), in which , however, enter their competitors.

That is why Vodafone discards those "side businesses" in Europe, although it has long experience in offering banking and credit services in Africa, with its successful Kenyan subsidiary M-Pesa, which popularized mobile payment and transfers in the African continent .