The profitability expectancy of neobanks is likely to be postponed next year, says the latest study by Syrtal Cards.

The Covid-19 crisis will not spare any financial actor. "In the lot, there will be the good and the not so good students: those who will emerge stronger from this storm and those who will be more impacted," Angelo Caci told L'Agefi, Director of Syrtals Cards & Beyond, which publishes the 4th edition of its global study on neobanks. 

According to the consulting office, the health crisis has played several roles: "revelation, acceleration, haste and mutation for the actors competing from all sides. Faced with an unprecedented situation and the storm that accompanies it, a selection process is inevitable. In 2021, we should approach the moment of truth, "says the expert. And if some players are already profitable such as the French online bank Nickel, the Russian online bank Tinkoff or PayTM Bank in India, "mostly and given the context of the pandemic, the expectation of profitability may be postponed", says the director of Syrtals Cards. 

And this even if some neobanks have modified their economic model, migrating more quickly to paid models, "since the era of free can not ensure the sustainability of their development", adds Angelo Caci. The year 2020 has also seen the emergence of new trends, better targeting the needs of certain users: "green" offers (Flow, Green Got), for the "underbanked" (Bambu, Remitly) or "teen-banking" offers for teenagers (Vybe in France, Copper in the United States)

Another highlight this year is that web giants have confirmed their appetite to enter the financial services arena. Beyond the rise of Chinese players like Ant Group and Tencent, the Americans have not said their last word: Facebook continues its initiative in cryptocurrencies with its Libra project and Google will  launch bank account offers from 2021. "Google  Rode around financial services for a long time. The remodeling of Google Pay and the arrival of the account Google Plex are therefore not a surprise, it is a continuum," says Angelo Caci. "This does not mean that this new banking offer will have a smashing success. This is an additional threat and thorn for incumbents. It is not excluded that others will follow suit," he concludes.