Orange’s proposed launch of a full blown mobile bank in France at the start of 2017 will be a major milestone in the evolution of online financial services and will bring a number of regulatory and competitive issues to a climax. It raises the question of whether such a dominant multiple play operator should be allowed, unfettered access to the banking market since this could distort competition in financial services. It could act as a disincentive for consumers to move either to rival financial or communications services, although that argument already holds to an extent within existing multiplay packages combining pay TV, broadband and mobile. Orange is currently negotiating with French banking and insurance group Groupama with a view to…