Orange CEO Stephane Richard told Le Figaro the operator plans to partner with a French bank to offer mobile banking in early 2015.

“Orange has the legitimacy to become a bank, it’s got a strong brand, 1,000 selling points and 27 million clients,” the CEO (pictured) said.

The initiative is being led by Laurent Paillassot, a former general manager of LCL bank, who joined Orange in September last year. Richard did not say who the banking partner was.

In common with other markets across its footprint, Orange has pushed mobile payments and money in France, although it is not clear why it is also launching its own banking operation.

The examples of operators becoming actual banks (as opposed to entering the payments market) are few, although Orange has done it in Poland.

In October 2014, Orange Finanse was launched, a mobile banking partnership between Orange and mBank (the fourth largest retail bank in Poland and a big supporter of digital banking). Orange Finanse has about 100,000 customers.

Customers can open an Orange Finanse account directly from their phone (current, deposit or savings accounts) and set up an NFC payment card, which enables them to make point-of-sale purchases, transfer money using only a mobile number, top up their mobile accounts, request instant credit and withdraw money from an ATM using only their mobile phone.

Creating standalone mobile-based banks is relatively rare for operators, although it is an approach favoured by Telenor. Last autumn, the operator launched Telenor Banka in Serbia, and has been a partner with Tameer Micro Finance Bank in offering banking services in Pakistan since 2009.