Neobanks and online banks: ChatGPT may finish the job in France

Neobanks and online banks attracted 15 million new customers in France between 2021 and 2025. ChatGPT may now be poised to finish the job.

According to McKinsey data compiled for Les Echos, Revolut and BoursoBank are outpacing traditional banks in the battle for new customers. More troublingly for branch-based lenders, one in three French people already turn to AI for financial guidance, putting their final stronghold at risk.

Revolut and BoursoBank dominate new customer growth

The figures leave little room for doubt. From 2021 to 2025, BoursoBank gained 5.5 million net new customers in France, while Revolut added 5.1 million and Nickel 4.6 million. Revolut has now surpassed 7 million customers in France, including 2.5 million new users in the past year alone.

The British fintech also recorded a global quarterly high of 1.8 million new users. Even BoursoBank, the long-standing leader in French online banking, is finding that pace of acquisition difficult to match. The position of major branch-based banks, which are reporting a negative balance, is even weaker.

Banking relationships are becoming fragmented

For traditional institutions, the central issue is not simply customer losses but the splintering of the banking relationship. French consumers now select different financial providers for different needs: one bank for everyday banking, another platform for trading, crypto elsewhere and savings with yet another provider. The single, loyal customer who relies on one institution is gradually disappearing.

“The concept of a main bank has partly lost its meaning,” Sébastien Lacroix, senior partner at McKinsey’s Paris office, told Les Echos. Revolut has understood this shift, relying on aggressive pricing, flexible packages and, above all, immediacy - something bank branches struggle to provide.

AI becomes a new competitor for banks

Competition is now spreading beyond the traditional boundaries of banking. Around one in three French people already use ChatGPT or a comparable AI assistant more than twice a month for financial advice. Among wealth-management customers, the proportion rises to 45%.

That amounts to at least 24 advisory interactions with AI each year. No bank achieves that level of contact with its own customers. A bank adviser seen once or twice annually is competing with a free tool that is available 24/7 and never puts users on hold.

Despite these developments, France’s largest banks continue to report record results, supported by a recovery in consumer lending and robust commission income. Yet their financial performance conceals a structural reality: they are losing direct contact with customers, while AI is taking away their last competitive advantage - advice. Revolut has recognised this too, developing its own AI for financial management and advice.