Monday, January 02, 2006

French post offices to offer banking services

The Sunday Business Post, Dublin, Ireland, reports that France's La Poste will be the largest retail banking network in the country starting today.

La Banque Postale will offer personal loans and 100 per cent mortgages through 17,000 post offices. La Poste has been offering savings accounts since the late 19th century. For more than ten years, it has been lobbying for a licence to offer loans. However, existing French banks have battled the plan.

According to the article, "Selling a full range of banking services appears one of the best options to keep post offices active, especially in rural areas where they are increasingly seen as a possible one-stop shop for unprofitable, but necessary, public service operations."

To read the entire article, click here.
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posted by Don Schilling at 12:01 AM