Completely disagree with nmc. They offer only basic (useful) services, don't touch investment banking at all, and in terms of success already contribute to a fair share of La Poste's overall revenues. Which doesn't mean they don't have room for improvement, to the contrary.
To me, pegging a bank to postal services is a no brainer given synergies etc.
> They [...] don't touch investment banking at all
Disagree all you want, but please get your facts right. Yes, La Banque Postale is technically forbidden from directly speculating on the open market. However:
- they can buy and own banks which are, in turn, allowed to speculate (cf. the Dexia bailout)
- they offer revolving credits at extremely high rates (more than 15%), which is known to push people further into poverty
- they can speculate on markets like the covered bond market (and actually need to, because the deposits are currently not enough to provide all services)
- they can speculate on side-effects (eg shift by one day the payment date for social benefits)
(This list is not exhaustive. If you are too clumsy to find references by yourself, just ask, I will add some.)
No investment banking? Good bank! Modern "investment banking" is just playing around with numbers, nothing which provides real value to the world economies.
