A foreign founder can discover that a French company’s bank account will be closed just when salaries, supplier invoices, tax payments and transfers from the overseas parent are due. The first question is not whether the founder is foreign. It is which account has been closed, what the bank’s notice actually says, and whether the bank is relying on an ordinary contractual termination, a special rule applying to an account opened through France’s right-to-an-account procedure, or an anti-money-laundering restriction. Those categories do not produce the same notice period or the same remedy. A company incorporated and domiciled in France is a legal person in its own right, even when every shareholder is abroad. It must nevertheless keep its corporate identity, beneficial-owner information, source-of-funds evidence and expected payment flows coherent and current. Since 28 May 2026, closing a deposit or savings account at the company’s own request has been free for companies and other legal persons; that reform does not give a bank an unlimited power to terminate a business relationship without observing the applicable rules. This guide addresses a French company owned or managed from abroad. It does not address an individual moving to France or a property purchase. It gives a practical response plan, but the notice and the account agreement remain decisive.

I. Can a French bank close a company account held by a foreign founder?

A. What the contract and the right-to-account rules actually protect

There is no single legal category called “the foreign founder’s French bank account”. A French company may hold an ordinary professional current account, an account with a separate overdraft facility, an account opened after a refusal under the right-to-account procedure, or an account provided by a payment institution rather than a credit institution. The bank’s power and the company’s response depend on that classification.

For the wider incorporation, governance and compliance sequence, see the firm’s French company formation and business-law guidance. This article isolates the banking crisis that arises after the company already has, or expects to have, an operating account.

For an ordinary deposit account, start with the signed terms and conditions, the payment-services framework agreement and any later amendments. Article L. 312-1-1 of the Monetary and Financial Code states, in its general termination provision, “L’établissement de crédit résilie une convention de compte de dépôt conclue pour une durée indéterminée moyennant un préavis d’au moins deux mois”. That statutory wording is a starting point, not a substitute for reading the company’s agreement, the type of product concerned and any specific exception. A professional account can also be accompanied by a credit line, merchant-acquiring service, card contract or foreign-exchange service with a separate termination mechanism.

The two-month reference must therefore be tested against the document received. Is it a notice of termination, a notice that a card or overdraft will end, a temporary restriction, a request for missing documents, or a demand to transfer the balance? A letter saying that a card is cancelled is not automatically a notice closing the deposit account. Conversely, a short message in an online portal may be followed by a formal letter whose date controls the contractual calculation. Preserve both.

French law changed one cost issue in 2026. The Ministry of Economy explains that, from 28 May 2026, the closure of any deposit or savings account is free for companies and other legal persons. That rule concerns a closure requested by the business; it does not mean that a bank must keep the account open, and it does not turn an unlawful or premature bank termination into a lawful one. It also does not settle the treatment of pending card transactions, cheques, direct debits, payment-acquiring reserves or a debit balance.

The position becomes more protective when the account was opened under the French right-to-account procedure. Article L. 312-1 of the Monetary and Financial Code gives a person domiciled in France a right to ask for a deposit account when that person has no such account in France. The first paragraph covers “Toute personne physique ou morale domiciliée en France”. A French subsidiary is ordinarily a legal person domiciled in France for this analysis even if a United States, British, Canadian, Swiss, Middle Eastern or Asian parent owns all its shares. The nationality of the shareholders does not by itself remove the company from the rule. A foreign company’s French branch is different because a branch is not a separate legal person; its facts and registration must be checked separately.

The right to an account is not a right to retain the company’s preferred bank, an overdraft, a premium card, a foreign-currency treasury service or a particular relationship manager. It is a route to a deposit account at an institution designated by the Banque de France, France’s central bank. The designated institution supplies a defined package of basic banking services. Article D. 312-5 lists basic services such as opening, maintaining and closing the account, account statements, a bank-account identification statement, transfers, direct debits, cash operations and a payment card. A designated account is not a promise of credit.

Closure of an account opened through that procedure is governed by the special safeguards in Article L. 312-1 IV. The bank can terminate unilaterally only in listed situations, including deliberate use for operations it has reason to suspect are illegal, inaccurate information, loss of the domicile condition, a later second French deposit account that gives access to basic services, repeated incivility, or a situation covered by the anti-money-laundering rule in Article L. 561-8. The same provision requires written notification, information to the Banque de France, a reasoned decision subject to limited secrecy and public-order exceptions, and at least two months’ notice except for the listed urgent cases. The provision says the establishment “ne peut résilier unilatéralement” the convention outside those statutory conditions. That is materially different from an ordinary account dispute.

A foreign founder should not confuse the company’s Kbis with a bank licence. A Kbis is the official extract showing the company’s registration details in the French Trade and Companies Register. The company obtains or updates its formal information through the single business-formalities portal operated by the Institut national de la propriété industrielle, commonly called INPI. The greffe is the registry office attached to the competent court. The Registre national des entreprises, or RNE, is the National Business Register. These records help the bank verify the legal representative, registered office, activity and beneficial-owner chain; they do not compel a bank to offer credit or to disregard a missing identity document.

B. When anti-money-laundering duties can justify a rapid restriction

A bank does not assess a foreign-owned French company only from its turnover. It must satisfy customer-identification and anti-money-laundering obligations. Article L. 561-5 of the Monetary and Financial Code requires the institution to identify the customer and, where appropriate, the beneficial owner and to verify those facts with probative written documents. A beneficial owner is the individual who ultimately owns or controls the company, not simply the local director whose name appears on one filing.

Article L. 561-5-1 requires information about the purpose and nature of the business relationship and its updating throughout that relationship. The same official section contains Article L. 561-6, which describes “une vigilance constante” and an attentive examination of transactions so that they remain consistent with the bank’s updated knowledge of the relationship. For an overseas parent and a French subsidiary, this may include the group chart, every intermediate holding company, the source and purpose of shareholder funding, expected countries of payment, the economic reason for intercompany transfers and the identity of the person authorising payments.

Article L. 561-10-2 requires an enhanced examination of an operation that is particularly complex, unusually large, or appears to lack an economic justification or lawful purpose. The bank may ask about the origin and destination of funds, the purpose of the operation and the person benefiting from it. A sudden capital contribution from an offshore entity, a payment corridor that does not match the registered activity, a dormant company that suddenly receives large transfers, or a change in ownership without updated evidence can trigger review. None of those facts proves wrongdoing; each can make an incomplete response operationally dangerous.

Article L. 561-8 explains the consequence when a regulated institution cannot satisfy the required identification or relationship information. It says that the institution “n’établit ni ne poursuit aucune relation d’affaires” in the situations covered by the provision. The bank may also have reporting duties under Article L. 561-15 where it knows, suspects or has good reason to suspect that funds derive from a qualifying offence or relate to terrorist financing. Article L. 561-18 protects the confidentiality of a suspicious-transaction report. A bank may therefore be unable to tell the company that a report exists or to disclose its internal risk analysis.

That secrecy does not answer every other legal question. It does not automatically authorise a bank to describe an ordinary business account as closed immediately when the contract and the applicable law require notice. It does not prevent the company from asking whether its account is restricted, whether payments are being rejected, what documents are missing, what date the relationship is said to end, and how pending transactions and the remaining balance will be handled. It also does not prevent a judge from examining whether the bank used the correct legal route, although the judge cannot require disclosure of information protected by law.

The leading practical warning is Cour de cassation, Commercial Chamber, 30 June 2021, no. 19-14.313, published in the Bulletin. The case concerned a company whose account had been opened through the right-to-account procedure. The bank sent a registered letter announcing closure without notice and referred to “fonctionnement atypique de votre compte”. Interim proceedings ordered the account to be maintained, but the Court of Cassation ultimately quashed the lower decision because the reasoning had not properly excluded deliberate use for operations suspected of illegal purposes. The case is not a universal rule that a bank must maintain every account. It shows instead why the exact statutory exception, the facts supporting it and the wording of the notice matter.

A second reference, Cour de cassation, Commercial Chamber, 3 November 2010, no. 09-69.533, published in the Bulletin, concerned a joint account and the consequences of a bank’s termination during a customer’s insolvency proceedings. Its facts are not a foreign-owned company case and should not be copied mechanically. It is nevertheless useful for the method: identify the account contract, the relevant insolvency rule, the notice period, the payment instruments affected and the concrete loss caused by a sudden interruption. A claim for damages is built from those documents, not from the founder’s nationality.

Prepare a compliance file before the account is actually shut. It should contain a recent Kbis, the RNE record where available, the articles of association, the latest beneficial-owner filing, passports or identity documents for the relevant individuals, a group chart, shareholder and director resolutions, proof of the registered office, tax-residence evidence, contracts supporting major invoices, loan or capital documents, bank statements showing the origin of funds, and a short description of expected monthly flows. If a foreign document is not in French, obtain a reliable translation when the bank requests one. Never invent a customer, invoice, director, business address or source of funds to satisfy a form.

II. What should a foreign-owned French company do after receiving the closure notice?

A. How to preserve payments, evidence and a replacement account

The first 48 hours should be treated as a continuity and evidence exercise. Download the notice, the online messages, statements, payment-rejection alerts, card notices and the relevant account agreement. Keep the original email files and the envelope or delivery record for a registered letter. Record the date on which access was limited, the date stated for closure, the last transaction accepted, the present balance and every payment that must leave or arrive before that date. If a bank employee gave instructions by phone, send a short confirmation email and keep the call record permitted by applicable law.

Build a payment calendar for at least the next eight weeks. Mark wages, social contributions collected by URSSAF, the Union for the Recovery of Social Security Contributions and Family Allowances; corporate tax and value-added-tax payments; rent; insurance; loan instalments; supplier direct debits; customer refunds; card settlements; and transfers from the foreign parent. Add the dates on which customers will use the old bank details. A French bank-account identification statement, usually called a RIB, must be replaced wherever it appears. SEPA, the Single Euro Payments Area, direct debits and transfers may fail after the old account stops accepting them even if the company has money in another country.

Do not move company funds into the founder’s personal account merely because the founder lives abroad or controls the company. That can create accounting, tax, insolvency and anti-money-laundering problems and may make the bank’s questions harder to answer. Use an account in the company’s name or a properly documented payment solution. Ask the bank for a written process for pending card transactions, cheques, refunds, chargebacks, direct debits and the transfer of any credit balance. Keep enough liquidity for instruments already issued, but do not assume that keeping money in the account will extend the termination date.

At the same time, apply to replacement providers. Separate the search for a deposit account from the search for financing. A company can ask a bank or payment institution for a basic payment account while negotiating a separate overdraft or credit line. Give each provider a concise, consistent pack: the French entity’s legal name and Kbis, its registered office, its activity, the ownership chart, the identity and authority of the director, the reason the former bank is ending the relationship if it can lawfully be stated, the expected flows, and proof of the source of initial and future funds. A foreign parent should explain the commercial reason for the French entity and why its payments correspond to contracts, capital or intercompany services.

If a provider refuses, ask for the written refusal or refusal certificate. For the professional right-to-account route, the refusal must be connected to a request to open a deposit account in the company’s name. A closure notice from the former bank may be useful evidence, but do not assume it automatically satisfies every Banque de France form. The central bank may ask whether the company has another deposit account in France and whether the applicant is authorised to represent the legal person.

The Banque de France’s professional right-to-account guidance explains the practical file. The company should have a refusal certificate, or proof that the bank did not respond within 15 days to a properly sent request, the completed application form, valid identity evidence, a Kbis less than three months old and, where the representative is not shown on that extract, proof of authority to act for the company. The file can be submitted online, at a Banque de France branch or by post. The Banque de France states that, after a complete file, it designates an institution within one business day; the designated institution then sends its list of required documents and must open the professional account within three business days after receiving the necessary documents.

Update the people who pay the company and the people whom it pays. Send the new RIB only through a verified channel and warn customers about fraud risks. Notify suppliers, employees, payroll providers, the tax office, URSSAF and payment processors. Ask the accountant to reconcile the old and new accounts and to track rejected entries separately. A new bank account does not erase an old liability, an unpaid cheque or a disputed direct debit. Preserve every rejection notice because it may later prove the timing and amount of the loss.

Keep corporate records separate from public notices. BODACC means the Bulletin officiel des annonces civiles et commerciales, the official bulletin used for certain court and corporate announcements. A routine bank-account termination is not, by itself, a BODACC corporate dissolution or liquidation notice. Do not tell customers that the company has ceased to exist merely because its account is closing. If a registered office, director, beneficial owner or activity has changed, update the relevant INPI formalities and RNE information through the proper channel; do not use a bank letter as a substitute for a corporate filing.

Finally, send the former bank a focused written request. Ask it to confirm whether the notice terminates the deposit-account convention or only a service; the contractual and legal date; the treatment of pending operations; the method for recovering statements and the balance; the customer-relations contact; and any documents still required for compliance. Do not demand disclosure of a suspicious-transaction report. Instead, state the company’s willingness to provide lawful identification, ownership, source-of-funds and transaction-purpose documents. A short, accurate record is more useful than a hostile letter that inadvertently creates a new inconsistency.

B. Which Banque de France and court remedies fit the emergency

There are three tracks, and they can run in parallel. The first is a bank complaint and operational negotiation. Use the bank’s customer-relations department, then the mediator identified in the account documents where the dispute falls within mediation. The second is the right-to-account application if the company has no deposit account in France and meets the statutory conditions. The third is court proceedings if the notice, the immediate restriction, the treatment of payments or the resulting loss gives rise to a contractual or statutory dispute.

Do not ask the Banque de France to decide a damages claim against the former bank. Its right-to-account function is designed to designate another institution, not to order the old bank to pay compensation. Conversely, do not wait for a damages claim if the company needs a replacement account today. Apply with a complete file and keep evidence of every date. If the bank refuses to issue the certificate, send the opening request by a method that proves receipt and preserve the 15-day silence period described by the Banque de France.

The right-to-account route may be especially important for a French subsidiary with a foreign parent because the business cannot safely rely on the founder’s personal account. The company should demonstrate its own French domicile, legal existence and representative authority. A Kbis issued by the greffe, a current RNE record and coherent INPI filings help. The application does not guarantee the company’s preferred services: the designated account is a basic account, and the institution still performs its customer checks. Article L. 312-1 expressly preserves the anti-money-laundering rules, so a foreign founder must answer the new institution’s identification questions fully and consistently.

For a special right-to-account account, the statutory text is a strong framework for an urgent challenge. The company can compare the notice with the six grounds in Article L. 312-1 IV, the requirement for a written and generally reasoned notification, the information to the Banque de France and the two-month default notice. If the bank relies on inaccurate information, unlawful use, a second account, loss of domicile or an inability to satisfy the anti-money-laundering duties, the file should address that ground directly. A general expression such as “risk policy” may be commercially understandable but is not a substitute for checking the rule actually used.

For an ordinary account, the company’s case is more fact-sensitive. The signed terms may allow termination with notice, and a court will not normally order a bank to provide every optional service forever. The strongest claims often concern premature closure, a failure to follow the agreed notice, misleading instructions about payment instruments, wrongful rejection of transactions, a debit of fees after termination, or loss caused by an abrupt interruption that the bank was required to avoid. The company must prove the contractual duty, the breach, causation and the amount of loss.

Urgent proceedings may be appropriate where payroll, essential suppliers or legally required payments are at immediate risk. Article 835 of the Code of Civil Procedure provides that the president of the tribunal judiciaire or the judge within the relevant competence may order interim protective or restorative measures, even where a serious dispute exists, to prevent imminent harm or end a manifestly unlawful disturbance. The exact court and procedural route depend on the company, the bank, the nature of the account and the relief sought; a commercial dispute may require analysis of the jurisdiction of the tribunal de commerce. A lawyer should test jurisdiction before filing.

The evidence for an urgent application should be chronological and narrow. Attach the account agreement, the bank’s notice, proof of receipt, the date of the first restriction, screenshots of rejected payments, the payroll schedule, URSSAF or tax deadlines, supplier demands, the company’s current balance, the applications made to alternative providers, and the documents sent in response to compliance questions. Explain the measure requested: continued processing until a stated date, restoration of a defined service, preservation of statements, release of an undisputed balance, or an order to respect a notice period. The court is more likely to understand a defined operational request than a general demand to “restore the banking relationship”.

The case law also requires careful separation between an account and a credit facility. In Cour de cassation, Commercial Chamber, 13 September 2017, no. 15-26.666, the official decision records a professional account and a separate overdraft agreement of 10,000 euros. The bank notified the end of the overdraft at the end of a 60-day period and sought repayment of the debit balance. That decision should not be presented as a rule that every ordinary account has a 60-day notice period. It is a reminder to identify whether the bank ended the deposit account, the overdraft, or both, and to calculate each contract separately.

Another illustration is Cour de cassation, Commercial Chamber, 28 February 2018, no. 16-19.136. The case involved a professional account, a treasury facility, rejected cheques and a dispute over whether the bank had acted too abruptly. The official record shows why an account statement, the timing of announced receipts, the wording and delivery date of the notice, and the calculation of the debit balance may become central evidence. Its procedural result was a cassation and the facts should not be treated as a blanket entitlement to a banking facility. The useful lesson is documentary: make the court able to reconstruct the cash position day by day.

When the bank cites anti-money-laundering reasons, the company should avoid two opposite mistakes. It should not accuse the bank of discrimination simply because the owner is foreign, and it should not accept every vague label without asking what lawful documents can be supplied. A foreign-owned company can present a clean ownership chart, certified identity documents, a board resolution, contracts, invoices, tax and accounting records, proof of capital or shareholder-loan funding, and an explanation of cross-border payments. It should also ask counsel whether a proposed response could be treated as disclosure of a confidential report or as an admission about a transaction.

Potential losses should be measured separately: bank fees, rejected-payment charges, late-payment interest, payroll disruption, supplier penalties, lost card settlements, currency-conversion costs, emergency provider costs and professional fees that are legally recoverable. Keep the original invoice and the bank rejection for each item. A company may have a claim even when the bank was entitled to terminate, if it caused a particular loss by failing to follow a notice obligation or by giving incorrect operational instructions. The reverse is also true: a real loss does not prove that the closure was unlawful.

The final decision should be recorded in the company’s governance file. The directors should approve the replacement account, payment-signatory powers, the response to the former bank and any court instruction. If the French company is an SAS, a simplified joint-stock company, check the president’s authority and any shareholders’ agreement. If it is a SARL, a limited-liability company, check the gérant’s authority and the articles. Do not let the urgency of a banking crisis produce an unauthorised transfer, a misleading beneficial-owner declaration or a payment to the wrong entity.

For most foreign founders, the best practical sequence is therefore: preserve the notice and account evidence; identify the exact product being terminated; answer lawful compliance questions; protect payroll and statutory payments; apply for a replacement account; request a refusal certificate if necessary; submit a complete right-to-account file where available; and obtain urgent legal advice if the bank has blocked essential operations or ignored a required notice. The company can pursue continuity and a legal challenge at the same time. It does not need to wait for the final closure date to start either track.

Conclusion

A bank’s decision to close the account of a French company owned from abroad is serious, but it is not resolved by a simple rule that the bank is always free to act or that the foreign founder automatically has a right to keep the account. The decisive questions are whether the account is ordinary or opened under the right-to-account procedure, whether the bank has invoked a lawful anti-money-laundering exception, what notice the contract and statute require, and what payments will be disrupted. A French legal person can use the Banque de France route when it has no deposit account in France, but the designated account supplies basic banking services and remains subject to customer checks. A court application requires evidence of the notice, the restriction, the imminent harm and the precise measure requested. The company should protect its cash flow without mixing corporate and personal funds, preserve every rejected payment, provide coherent ownership and source-of-funds evidence, and update its RIB with every stakeholder. Acting quickly is compatible with acting accurately: continuity planning, the right-to-account application and a focused court strategy should be built from the same verified chronology.

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