Natixis is a France-based multinational financial services company. The company was founded in 2006 by the merger of Natexis Banque Populaire and IXIS. The company is based in Paris, with the presence of teams in various countries worldwide. It deals in asset and wealth management, corporate and investment banking, insurance as well as payments. Sustainability is the important matter that shapes a company’s policy; environmental goals are embedded in all business procedures. The company values green finance, but they also assist a client in making their business more environmentally friendly. Natixis is the first bank to actively manage its balance sheet’s climate impact via the Green Weighting factor, an approach to promote financial transactions those safeguards the climate (Natixis, 2021). The bank has an inclusive culture and is proud of its services; their motto “Beyond banking” is a testament to that approach. Porter’s five forces model is a valuable tool to identify threats and opportunities faced by Natixis in the financial services sector.
Competitive Rivalry in the Market
The global financial services sector is highly competitive as there are banks and institutes with massive capital operating in the sector. Financial services institutes based in France attract competition from the global companies as the European Bloc’s central market. The major market players in the sphere are Deutsche Bank and BNP Paribas, along with Natixis. In the year 2020, Natixis has a market valuation of $15.3 billion; it earned a revenue of $23.2 billion (Forbes, 2021). In 2020, BNP Paribas ranked 99th in the Fortune Global 50 companies; the company has reported $85 billion and a profit of $9.1 billion (Fortune, 500). Deutsche Bank reported a profit of $41.7 billion in the same period, and the company’s market valuations stand at $18 billion (Fortune, 500). The Deutsche Bank was positioned at the 291st spot in the Global 500 companies. The presence of firms with massive financial strength and access to global market space makes the industry highly competitive.
Threat of Substitutes
The threat appeared to be low in the short-term time horizon and medium to high over the more extended period. The technology has given smaller companies to compete with the financial services firms by creating innovative solutions. The financial services industry is the prime candidate for disruption as it is data-intensive, and many tasks can be automated or streamlined to optimized performance and efficiency. The innovators are breaking barriers and giving them competition, and offering substitute products. The challenge for the innovators is to match the range of products on offer by the incumbents. France’s fintech scene is vibrant, and it has a structural foundation, which is an aggregation of sixty fintech startups under one umbrella named France Fintech (Raoux, 2016). Therefore, posing a severe threat in the long-term if they do not evolve; otherwise, the threat remains low for now.
The Threat of New Entrants
There are some generic barriers associated with the financial services industry. One of them is the need for capital, and the other is the strict regulatory web. The underlying reasons for the high regulatory requirements are the need for protecting society at large. If not taken proper measures, the public could bear the unintended consequences of misdeeds, thus prompting strict oversight. It increases the high compliance cost and resultantly discourages the newcomers. Another threat is the need for high capital at the inception; this is a severe barrier to entry. Recently, raising capital has been comparatively reasonable; venture capital firms provide the best platform. In 2018, Frances’s fintech companies raised €365 million with 15% year-on-year growth (Business France Nordic, 2019). Therefore, the threat of new entrants is moderate.
Bargaining Power of Buyers
Consumers usually have higher bargaining power in the financial services sector. The technological progress and widespread adoption of smart appliances have made the consumers more tech-savvy, increasing the acceptance of online services. Now it is impossible for the bank or any financial services company to exist without an online-first model. After that progress, the buyers are put more value on the convenience and the customer service. In addition, the consumers have many available options to choose from due to the competition in the market space. A higher degree of competition in banking markets is expected to provide welfare gains by reducing the prices of financial services and thereby accelerating investment and growth (Pruteanu-Podpiera et al., 2016). It put banks under serious pressure to deliver the best value services. Therefore, buyers exercise higher buying power.
Bargaining Power of Suppliers
Suppliers usually have higher bargaining power depending upon the underlying factors. Suppliers’ importance for the supply chain of the buyer and the nature of the product or services provided by the supplier, there are other generic supply chain risks associated such as unreliable supplier and excess reliance on a single source of supply. The sources of supply can be categorized into three categories: retail customers, institutional investors, and expert human resources. Retail consumers are aware of their importance to the business owing to the completion and available alternatives. Therefore, they can exercise high power of bargaining. The institutional investors only invest after assessing the allotment of their assets to the desired portfolio and require a high return on investment, leaving them with high power. They can easily invest with another institute and exposing the company to a high level of threat. Over-reliance on a single source of supplier and their unreliability increases the supply risk (Tomlin & Yimin, 2005). However, there is an amply influx of financial experts in the leading financial hubs and have low bargaining power. Considering the facts, suppliers have moderate to high bargaining power.
References
Business France Nordic. (2019). The promising future of fintech in France. Available at: https://world.businessfrance.fr/nordic/2019/02/01/the-promising-future-of-fintech-in-france/
Forbes. (2021). Natixis. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/companies/natixis/?sh=2d99a2c54323
Fortune. (2021). BNP Paribas. Available at: https://fortune.com/company/bnp-paribas/global500/
Fortune. (2021). Deutsche Bank. Available at: https://fortune.com/company/deutsche-bank/global500/
Natixis. (2021). About us. Available at: https://www.natixis.com/natixis/en/about-us-c_5028.html
Pruteanu-Podpiera A., Weill L., Schobert F. (2016) Banking Competition and Efficiency: A Micro-Data Analysis on the Czech Banking Industry. In: Brada J.C., Wachtel P. (eds) Global Banking Crises and Emerging Markets. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-56905-9_4
Raoux, A. (2016). Fintech has not failed taking off in France and let me tell you why. Medium. Available at: https://medium.com/france-fintech/fintech-has-not-failed-in-taking-off-in-france-and-let-me-tell-you-why-f47911b00015
Tomlin, Brian and Wang, Yimin. (2005). On the Value of Mix Flexibility and Dual Sourcing in Unreliable Newsvendor Networks. Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, 7, issue 1, p. 37-57, https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:ormsom:v:7:y:2005:i:1:p:37-57.