Mobilize Financial Services

The company was founded by Renault in 1974 as the Société Financière de Renault or Sofiren, being intended as a way of financing sales for its dealerships and to manage the automaker's cash flow in Europe. On 27 June 1980 it was renamed Renault Crédit International (RCI). In 1990, it merged with Diac (Diffusion Industrielle et Automobile par le Crédit) SA, a company formed in 1924 by Louis Renault as a result of the lack of liquid funds after the 1921 crisis and with similar objectives, but focused exclusively on loans for the purchase of vehicles (today Diac operates as a RCI Banque's wholly owned subsidiary). By 1990, it contributed with more than one-third of Renault group's net income. By the end of 1999, after the establishment of the Renault–Nissan Alliance, the firm acquired the five Nissan's financial affiliates in Europe (located in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany and Spain) for €294 million and expanded its presence in South and Central America to finance Renault and Nissan sales. In November 2001, the company was named RCI Banque. In February 2016, as part of a corporate image revamp, RCI Banque adopted the trade name RCI Bank and Services.

In January 2017 the company became the majority shareholder of fr:Karhoo, a taxi platform. In September 2017, it acquired Class and Co, the parent company of Yuso (an automated fleet management system for taxi, ride-hailing and delivery services) and Marcel (a platform for reserving ride-hailing services in the Paris metropolitan area). On 8 June 2018, it acquired a 75% majority interest in iCabbi, a dispatch management company for automotive fleets of taxis and PHVs.

In January 2018, the firm moved its headquarters from Noisy-le-Roi to the 2nd arrondissement of Paris. The Noisy-le-Roi headquarters were kept by the subsidiary Diac. In February 2018, the firm's affiliate in the Netherlands announced it would finance Mitsubishi Motors sales in the country through a partnership with the local Mitsubishi financial affiliate. In May 2022, RCI Bank and Services changed its trade name to Mobilize Financial Services, as it was made part of Renault's Mobilize unit. Mobilize Financial Services launched Mobilize Insurance, a subsidiary offering "usage-based" insurance plans, and a payment card to finance new mobility offers. At the end of 2022, the group launched the long-term rental company Mobilize Lease&Co, which made its first two acquisitions in Germany in July 2023.

In June 2015, RCI Banque's British subsidiary, RCI Bank UK, based in Rickmansworth, launched a savings account system in the United Kingdom, becoming the first car manufacturer-related financial company to do so.

In March 2019 it obtained a UK banking licence; in February 2017 it announced it had received more than £2.1billion of deposits from more than 60,000 savers in the UK since launching in June 2015. In 2017, RCI Bank was awarded as the "Best No Notice Account Provider" by the Moneyfacts Group.

Legal Complaints

In 2022, Mackie Motors (Brechin) Limited (MMBL), a Scottish car dealer, claimed that RCI Financial Services "unlawfully withdrew key financing and terminated contracts giving just seven days' notice in November 2021. The clam was eventually dismissed by the High Court, as was a subsequent appeal.

In June 2025, a new letter of claim was issued by MMBL to RCI Financial Services, Renault UK, and Nissan Motor (GB). The letter alleged that RCI, Renault, and Nissan "abruptly and simultaneously cut off access to essential operational systems [...] without warning or explanation. And that, "RCI Financial Services instigated this disruption by pressuring Renault and Nissan to terminate franchise agreements based on unverified internal concerns, without offering MMBL a chance to respond".

In December 2025, it was announced that Scottish National Party MP, Dave Doogan, will appear as a witness for Mackie Motors in the firm's upcoming claim involving RCI, Renault, and Nissan. In December 2024, Doogan met with RCI Financial Services's CEO to discuss the company's relationship with Mackie Motors and previously raised the case in parliament, saying, "sometimes crime wears a suit, as happened in Brechin in my constituency, where Mackie Motors had equity in their vehicles stolen by a French bank based in London. Then, through mendacity, or incompetence, or both, the bank turned off the oxygen for that business of 50 years."

In February 2026, a former employee of RCI alleged that the bank did not follow "proper procedures" and that the treatment of Mackie was "grossly unjust". The anonymous whistleblower accused RCI of being motivated by personal grievance and quoted senior management who discussed in private meetings their ambitions to "get this b*****d, Mackie". According to the whistleblower, meetings were held over the course of two months to ensure the process of removing Mackie Motors went smoothly.

In April 2026, RCI, along with Renault and Nissan, made a strikeout application to dismiss MMBL's claim, alleging Mackie Motors was attempting to re-litigate the same facts under new legal theories, and it was an "abuse of the court process".

In August 2026, the High Court rejected the strikeout application and ruled that MMBL's case could proceed. In a written judgement, Judge Lance Ashworth KC noted that the case was "not merely a repackaging of the same facts" and would focus on new evidence not previously available. He added that the inclusion of Renault and Nissan for the first time was a "powerful factor" in his decision to allow the case to proceed.