ChangeNow: savings and positive impact on the environment

This is an observation shared by many players positioned in this niche. The French feel concerned by climate change and want their banks and insurance companies to contribute to it. On the occasion of the “Change Now” trade show, a study confirms this trend and highlights the expectations of the French in terms of the impact of their savings.

Facts

• Based on an online survey conducted by the Kantar polling institute, Wavestone has drawn up an overview of the expectations of individuals with regard to banks and insurance companies in the face of climate change.

• 72% of the panel believes that banks and insurance companies have a role to play in the fight against global warming.

• 66% of respondents consider environmental impact to be an important criterion when choosing a financial product; and 63% say they are willing to sacrifice the performance of their investments.

• On the insurance side, 48% of respondents are willing to pay more for insurance if it takes action against global warming. In terms of age group, 61% of 25-34 year olds are willing to pay more for insurance, compared to only 29% of 55-65 year olds.

Issues

• A challenge of education and communication around green offers: 47% of respondents do not know any of these so-called “green” offers. Moreover, 61% of people who would not be ready to invest in a green product would still like their bank to offer them a calculation of their individual carbon footprint. This response highlights what the Sopra Steria Next Exploratory has characterized as one of the paradoxes of ethics in the banking relationship: customers want more ethical products, but are not buying them. According to Sopra, this paradox can be explained both by the lack of awareness of these products and by the lack of confidence in their effectiveness.

• A generational gap: 23% of 25-34 year olds strongly agree that environmental impact is an important criterion when choosing a financial product, compared to 8% of 55-65 year olds.

Perspective

• A few months ago, the British neo-bank Tandem announced the acquisition of the fintech Oplo, to facilitate an ecological and responsible transition of its activities. In the same trend, Aumax, the neobank spinoff of Crédit Mutuel Arkéa, has just launched a new responsible offer. In partnership with GreenlyAumax’s new responsible offer, in partnership with the French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME), enables customers to find out the carbon impact of their spending and benefit from personalized recommendations from leading institutions such as ADEME to help them improve their consumption.

• Some other players have made the impact of savings their main marketing argument; these are the “green” neo-banks such as Hélios, Onlyone or Green-Got.

• But the main announcement, coming from a traditional player, concerned La Banque Postale, which last October declared that the bank would get out of fossil fuels by 2030, thus setting a deadline for other players who were content with more vague commitments over a longer period.