Moving from the United Kingdom to France can create an unexpected banking crisis: a UK bank may write to say that it will close your current account because you now live in the European Economic Area. Brexit changed the regulatory framework that allowed UK firms to serve customers across Europe, but it did not give every bank an automatic right to block your money, ignore its own notice period or leave your salary, pension and household payments without a workable route.

The answer depends on the type of account, the date on which it was opened, the terms that govern it, the reason relied on by the bank and the way the closure was communicated. The UK rules also changed for many payment accounts opened after 28 April 2026. A British customer living in France may therefore have to analyse both the older two-month regime and the newer 90-day regime. An anti-money-laundering or regulatory exception can change the result again.

This guide separates the UK account contract from the French solutions available when an account is lost. It explains what to ask for, how to protect access to funds, how to calculate the loss caused by an inadequate notice period and how to complain to the bank or the Financial Ombudsman Service. The French droit au compte, meaning the statutory right-to-an-account procedure, is discussed only as a possible replacement route; it does not force a UK bank to keep a UK account open.

I. Can a UK bank close your account because you moved to France after Brexit?

A. What do Brexit and the 2026 UK rules actually change?

A UK bank can usually decide that it will no longer maintain a relationship with a customer who has moved abroad, provided that it follows the account agreement, the applicable law and any regulatory duties. That is different from saying that Brexit itself closes the account. Brexit is often the commercial or regulatory background; the legal question is whether the bank used a valid contractual power in a fair and properly timed way.

Before the end of the transition arrangements, a UK firm could often rely on European passporting arrangements to provide financial services to customers in an EU member state. After Brexit, a firm that wishes to conduct regulated business in the European Economic Area may need an authorisation or an operating structure in each relevant country. The UK Government warned customers living in the EU and European Economic Area that some UK banks might close accounts where they no longer wished to operate, and advised customers to contact their bank and make new arrangements. That official explanation is useful background, but it is not a closure notice and it does not remove the bank’s obligations to an individual customer.

The GOV.UK information for customers living in the EU or EEA describes the post-Brexit authorisation problem and the possibility of account closures. It also makes clear why a bank may distinguish between a customer resident in the UK and a customer resident in France. The distinction can be a service-perimeter decision rather than a finding that the customer has done anything wrong. A letter that says “you are no longer UK resident” should therefore be read alongside the bank’s terms, not treated as proof of fraud or misconduct.

The timing of the closure now matters even more. The Payment Services and Payment Accounts (Contract Termination) (Amendment) Regulations 2025 introduced changes that the Financial Ombudsman Service explains by reference to the account’s opening date. For an account opened before 28 April 2026, the familiar minimum notice position is generally at least two months, unless a longer contractual notice applies or a recognised exception is engaged. For an account opened after 28 April 2026, the ordinary period is generally at least 90 days. The phrase “generally” matters: the account type, the regulation, the contract and the reason for termination must still be checked.

The Financial Ombudsman Service guidance for consumers explains the two-month and 90-day distinction and warns that the terms may provide a longer period. It is a practical guide, not a substitute for reading the termination letter. Compare four dates:

• the date printed on the letter or secure message;
• the date on which you actually received or could reasonably access it;
• the contractual closure date stated by the bank; and
• the date on which cards, online banking, direct debits or withdrawals were actually disabled.

If the bank says it gave 90 days but disabled your card after ten days, the dispute is not only about the date printed on the letter. The practical loss of access may amount to a separate failure. Save the letter, envelope, email headers, application screenshots and call records. A bank may say that the account remained technically open while it was functionally unusable. That distinction can be important when you show missed payments, emergency transfer costs or an inability to receive income.

The 90-day rule is not a promise that every UK account will remain open for 90 days. Exceptions can arise where the bank cannot complete customer due diligence, where an immigration or legal requirement requires closure, where the relationship involves suspected serious crime or where a regulator or public authority requires the bank to act. A bank may also be constrained in what it can disclose if explaining the reason would reveal anti-money-laundering monitoring or a suspicious-activity report. That does not automatically validate every immediate closure. It means that the challenge should focus on notice, access, funds, the information the bank was permitted to give and the evidence of the resulting loss.

For accounts subject to the newer regime, the bank may have to give a specific reason and information about the complaint route, subject to exceptions. For older accounts, a bank may have more freedom not to disclose a detailed commercial reason. You should still ask for the reason in writing because the answer can reveal whether the bank has confused your address, tax residence, nationality, account type or a compliance document. A request for clarification is not an admission that the bank has acted lawfully.

Do not confuse the bank’s right to end a relationship with its right to keep the closing balance. The account may close, but the bank must still identify the balance, deal with uncleared transactions, explain how it will transfer or return the money and give a route for resolving a disagreement. If the bank says the balance is unavailable because of verification, ask what documents are required and whether it can release the undisputed amount. If it refuses to answer, record the refusal and escalate it through the formal complaint process.

The Financial Conduct Authority’s review of payment-account access and closures recognises that firms retain commercial freedom to decide whom they bank, while also examining the effect of closures on customers and the fairness of firms’ processes. That balance is central to a Brexit-related case. A customer normally needs to show more than “I have been loyal for many years”; the stronger complaint identifies a broken promise, an invalid or inadequate notice, discriminatory treatment, a failure to provide access to money or a loss that proper notice would have avoided.

Finally, the account’s label matters. A current account, savings account, Individual Savings Account, investment account, mortgage-linked account and credit facility may have different termination clauses and different regulatory treatment. The new 90-day rules discussed by the Ombudsman concern payment accounts within the relevant legislation; they should not be applied automatically to every product a bank offers. Obtain the exact terms in force when the bank sent the notice and any later terms that the bank says replaced them.

B. When can the closure, the reason or the lack of notice be challenged?

The first distinction is between an unfair outcome and an unlawful process. A bank may be entitled to withdraw from a French-resident customer segment, even though the decision is distressing and commercially inconvenient. The same bank may still be liable if it gives less notice than the contract or statute requires, sends the notice to an obsolete address after having accepted the French address, blocks access early, mishandles the closing balance or misstates the reason for the decision.

Start with the account agreement. Search the online archive, the original welcome pack, the tariff document and every amendment accepted since the account opened. Look for the clauses headed termination, closure, residence, eligibility, service availability, notice, fraud, financial crime, customer due diligence and communications. A clause allowing termination “at any time” may still be subject to a notice period elsewhere in the agreement or in mandatory legislation. If the bank relies on a clause added after you moved to France, ask when and how it was incorporated.

French contract provisions can help explain the method of analysis when the dispute concerns a French provider or a French-law contract, but they do not automatically govern a UK bank account. Article 1102 of the French Civil Code states: “Chacun est libre de contracter ou de ne pas contracter, de choisir son cocontractant et de déterminer le contenu et la forme du contrat dans les limites fixées par la loi.” The provision protects contractual freedom within legal limits. It is not a French veto over a UK bank’s commercial choice, and it cannot be used to assume that a French court will apply French law to every cross-border account.

Article 1103 of the French Civil Code adds: “Les contrats légalement formés tiennent lieu de loi à ceux qui les ont faits.” For a French account, this directs attention to the written convention and its termination terms. For a UK account, the equivalent exercise is to identify the governing law and jurisdiction clause and then read the UK terms as a whole. A French address does not change the governing law by itself.

Good faith is also not a free-standing promise that a bank must continue banking indefinitely. Article 1104 of the French Civil Code says: “Les contrats doivent être négociés, formés et exécutés de bonne foi.” If French law is applicable, a bank that knowingly accepts a new address, continues to collect fees and then disables access without the contractual notice may face a serious argument about performance of the agreement. The fact-sensitive question is what the bank promised, what it knew, how it acted and what the customer could reasonably do before closure.

Next, test the reason given. There are several materially different explanations:

1. French residence or EEA service policy. The bank may say that it no longer offers the account to customers resident in France. This is usually a business and regulatory explanation. Ask whether the policy applies to all customers in the same situation and whether another product or a non-resident arrangement exists.
2. Uncompleted customer due diligence. The bank may require proof of identity, French address, tax residence and tax identification number. Send accurate documents through the secure channel. Do not state that you remain UK resident merely to preserve an account.
3. Account-specific conduct or risk. The bank may refer to suspicious transactions, a breached overdraft, false information or another contractual event. It may be unable to give full details. Concentrate on the process, the funds and the financial consequences rather than demanding disclosure of protected monitoring information.
4. Product eligibility. A current account and an investment product may be governed by different rules. Ask the bank to identify the product and clause rather than accepting a generic statement about “banking services”.

A closure based solely on British nationality, racial origin or another protected characteristic raises a different issue from a closure based on country of residence and regulatory authorisation. Do not assume that the word “Brexit” proves discrimination. Compare the bank’s treatment of customers of different nationalities who are all resident in France, and compare the treatment of British nationals who remain resident in the UK. Keep copies of any inconsistent answer given by staff. A complaint can ask the bank to confirm whether the relevant criterion is nationality, residence, address, tax status, product eligibility or compliance risk.

There is also a French replacement question. Article L312-1 of the French Monetary and Financial Code begins with the rule that “Toute personne physique ou morale domiciliée en France” has a right to ask for a deposit account, subject to the statutory conditions and the absence of another account in France. The Banque de France explains the procedure in its right-to-an-account guidance. A British national who is genuinely domiciled in France may therefore have a route to basic French banking services without proving French nationality. A British visitor or a second-home owner who is not domiciled in France cannot assume that this procedure applies.

The right-to-an-account procedure is not a replacement for a UK account in every practical sense. It can provide basic services, but it may not provide a GBP account, a UK sort code, a particular savings product, an existing overdraft or the same direct debits. You usually need a written refusal or proof that a bank did not open the account, identity and domicile documents and a request to the Banque de France. If a French bank has already closed an account, our separate guide on a French bank closing a British resident’s account deals with the French notice and challenge questions. That article is a French-bank comparison, not an answer to the UK closure itself.

For a French deposit account, Article L312-1-1 of the French Monetary and Financial Code requires a written account agreement and says that the bank terminates an open-ended deposit-account agreement with at least two months’ notice, unless an exception applies. Its wording includes: “L’établissement de crédit résilie une convention de compte de dépôt conclue pour une durée indéterminée moyennant un préavis d’au moins deux mois”. This is a useful comparison when a customer now uses a French account, but it should not be copied onto the UK bank’s contract.

The comparison also prevents a common mistake: asking the Banque de France to order a UK bank to reopen a UK account. The French authority can deal with the French right-to-account procedure and the information required for an eligible French applicant. It cannot turn a UK bank into a French designated institution. The practical plan is therefore parallel: challenge an improper UK process while opening a replacement French or other suitable account before the termination date.

Finally, check whether the bank’s letter is a closure notice or a temporary restriction. A restriction may result from an identity review, a sanctions screen or a payment investigation. The legal and complaint strategy differs. Ask the bank to state whether the account is being terminated, suspended, or merely prevented from making particular transactions. If a closure date exists, continue preparing for it even while asking for restoration. A customer who waits for a verbal promise may lose the time needed to redirect rent, taxes and pension payments.

II. What should you do when a UK account closure threatens your life in France?

A. How do you preserve payments, evidence and the closing balance?

Act on two tracks from the day the notice arrives: protect the money and build the case. A complaint does not guarantee that the bank will extend the relationship. Open or identify a replacement account in your own name, check that it can receive the currencies and payment types you need, and ask how long the provider needs to complete its verification. If you are eligible for the French right-to-account procedure, do not wait until the UK account is already locked before collecting the refusal certificate and domicile evidence.

Make a payment map. List every credit and debit that has passed through the UK account during the last 13 months, not just the transactions visible on the last statement. Include:

• UK State Pension, workplace pension, private pension, dividends and rental income;
• French salary, freelance invoices or benefit payments that use the UK account;
• French rent, mortgage, electricity, insurance, mobile phone and school payments;
• HM Revenue & Customs, French tax, social-contribution and local-tax payments;
• card subscriptions, online services, transport passes and recurring charitable gifts;
• standing orders, direct debits, scheduled transfers and pending card transactions; and
• any overdraft, loan, security deposit or account-linked savings product.

Mark each item as “redirected”, “cancelled”, “replaced” or “at risk”. A recurring payment that is not technically a direct debit may not be covered by the same switching service. Confirm the new mandate with the creditor, not only with the bank. Keep the confirmation reference, first successful payment and any rejection notice. If a payment fails, ask the creditor for a written statement of the fee, interest, penalty or service interruption that resulted.

Request a complete closing-balance process from the UK bank. The request should ask:

1. What is the expected closure date, and what is the date on which card and online access will end?
2. Which transactions remain pending, and until when must you leave funds available?
3. How will the final balance be calculated, including interest, fees, refunds and any foreign-exchange charge?
4. Can the bank transfer GBP to a UK account, EUR to a French account, or both?
5. What name and verification documents must accompany the destination-account instruction?
6. What happens if a payment arrives after closure or a card transaction settles later?

Ask for transfer to an account in the same customer’s name where possible. A request to send a large balance to a third party can trigger a new review and complicate the evidence. If a transfer is rejected, ask for the precise operational reason and a safe alternative. Do not send identity documents to an unverified email address supplied by a caller. Use the bank’s secure message system, branch address or published complaints address, then save the submission receipt.

Calculate the amount at risk on the date of the notice. The balance itself is not necessarily the loss: the bank may ultimately return it. The recoverable loss may include an emergency transfer fee, an exchange-rate difference, a failed direct-debit fee, a late-payment charge, a travel cost caused by the closure, interest on a forced overdraft or a documented contractual penalty. Separate foreseeable loss from inconvenience and keep invoices. If you cannot prove the amount, the complaint is easier for the bank to dismiss as a general inconvenience.

Preserve evidence in a chronological folder. Use a filename that begins with the date and describes the document. Include the account agreement, terms, notice, envelope, secure-message record, bank statements, screenshots of disabled functions, call notes, complaint reference, replacement-account applications and payment failures. Record the identity of each bank employee, the time of each call and the exact answer given. After a call, send a short confirmation message: “I understood your answer to be…” This creates a reliable record without accusing the bank of a fact you cannot prove.

Update the bank’s compliance file honestly. A British resident in France should normally provide the French address, French tax residence information and the relevant tax identification details when the bank requests them. A UK bank’s request under customer-due-diligence or international tax-reporting rules is not itself a tax assessment. Conversely, giving an old UK address or saying that France is only a holiday location when it is your main home can create a separate problem. Accuracy is more valuable than an attempt to preserve the account for a few extra weeks.

Do not use the closure to ignore French reporting duties. The closure of a UK account does not erase the obligation to report a foreign account or the income and gains connected with it for a period in which you were French tax resident. Our guide on a UK bank account omitted from the French foreign-account declaration covers that separate issue. A transfer of the balance to France is not, by itself, a substitute for the correct income, capital or account-reporting analysis.

If the account is already blocked, ask for the minimum information needed to restore access or release undisputed funds. The bank may not be able to disclose a suspicious-activity investigation, but it can often tell you whether it needs an identity document, proof of address, a tax-residence form, an explanation of a transaction or confirmation of the destination account. Submit documents once, in a clear index, and keep the upload receipt. Repeatedly sending different explanations can create avoidable inconsistencies.

French law offers useful remedies when the relevant contract or service is French. Article 1217 of the French Civil Code lists the options available to a party facing contractual non-performance, including: “La partie envers laquelle l’engagement n’a pas été exécuté, ou l’a été imparfaitement, peut”. The list includes performance, termination, a reduction and compensation, but the appropriate remedy depends on the contract, the breach, causation and jurisdiction. It is not an instruction to keep paying a UK bank’s charges or to stop complying with a lawful account closure.

When French law governs and a French provider’s failure causes a proven loss, Article 1231-1 of the French Civil Code states: “Le débiteur est condamné, s’il y a lieu, au paiement de dommages et intérêts”. The words “s’il y a lieu” signal the need for a legal basis and evidence. In a UK-account dispute, the corresponding cause of action, limitation rule and court may be English or another law chosen by the contract. Obtain advice before issuing proceedings in France merely because you now live there.

Do not let the absence of a French remedy paralyse the immediate plan. A complaint file, replacement account, redirection of payments and clear request for the closing balance reduce both the practical risk and the legal loss. If the bank later agrees to keep the account or extends the date, treat that as a written variation and continue checking every payment until the issue is finally closed.

B. How do you complain to the bank, the Financial Ombudsman and, if necessary, a court?

Begin with a formal complaint to the UK bank, even if you have already telephoned customer services. Address it to the bank’s published complaints team and use the bank’s secure channel as well if the account remains accessible. Put “formal complaint — closure of account for customer resident in France” in the subject line. State the account type, opening date, address held by the bank, date of notice, proposed closure date, actual loss of access and the remedy sought.

A focused complaint should ask the bank to:

• confirm the contractual and regulatory basis for closure;
• identify the applicable notice period and explain how the dates were calculated;
• confirm whether the account was opened before or after 28 April 2026 for the purpose of the new rules;
• state whether the decision concerns residence, service authorisation, customer due diligence, a product rule or account-specific conduct;
• restore access or extend the closure date if the notice or restriction was incorrect;
• release or transfer the closing balance by a secure and agreed route; and
• reimburse documented fees and losses caused by an inadequate notice or operational error.

Do not demand that the bank disclose information it is legally prohibited from revealing. Instead, ask whether the bank can confirm that it has applied the relevant exception and whether it can identify the documents required to complete verification. If the bank says that it cannot explain the reason, request a review of the notice, access to funds and payment continuity separately. This keeps the complaint useful even when the reason is confidential.

The Financial Ombudsman Service can investigate many complaints about UK banks after the firm has had the opportunity to respond. The Ombudsman’s account-closure guidance for businesses says that it looks at the relevant law, the account terms, the type of account, the notice, the access to money, the information provided and the effect on the customer. It can consider an error, unfair treatment, insufficient notice, a failure to follow rules or discriminatory conduct. It may recommend compensation for direct loss, distress and inconvenience, and in an appropriate case may consider restoring an account, but it is not a guarantee that a bank will be required to maintain a commercial relationship.

The consumer route normally starts after a final response from the bank or after the bank has had the applicable period to investigate. The GOV.UK financial-service complaints page directs consumers to complain to the firm and then to the Financial Ombudsman Service if the response is unsatisfactory or absent after the relevant period. Read the final-response letter carefully: it normally specifies the time limit for taking the complaint to the Ombudsman. Put that deadline in your calendar on the same day that the letter arrives.

Your Ombudsman submission should be shorter than your evidence bundle. Begin with a one-page chronology, then state three or four precise questions:

1. Did the bank give the contractual or statutory notice required for this account and opening date?
2. Did it disable access earlier than the closure date without a valid reason or adequate explanation?
3. Did its handling of a French address, nationality or compliance document treat you inconsistently or unfairly?
4. What loss, payment disruption, fee or distress resulted, and which documents prove it?

Ask for a practical outcome. Depending on the facts, that may be a corrected closure date, release of the balance, reimbursement of a specific fee, compensation for payment failures, correction of a factual record or a review of the decision. Asking only for “justice” makes it harder to resolve the file. Asking for an order that the bank must offer a lifetime account is also likely to overstate what the Ombudsman can do.

The Financial Conduct Authority is the UK regulator, but it is not the ordinary forum for awarding compensation to one customer. You can report a wider practice or regulatory concern to the FCA, especially if the bank’s conduct appears systematic, but keep the individual loss complaint with the bank and the Ombudsman or court route. The FCA’s role and the Ombudsman’s role should not be confused when a closure is urgent.

A French consumer-mediation route may exist for a French professional or a contract falling within the French mediation system. Article L612-1 of the French Consumer Code states: “Tout consommateur a le droit de recourir gratuitement à un médiateur de la consommation”. This does not automatically make a UK bank subject to a French mediator because the customer lives in France. Check the bank’s legal entity, the contract’s governing law, its designated mediator and the jurisdiction provisions before relying on this route. If the provider is a French subsidiary, the answer may differ from a UK entity serving a French customer from the United Kingdom.

If the dispute reaches a court, separate the claims. A court may be asked to decide whether notice was sufficient, whether an account was improperly blocked, whether the bank must release funds and whether a proven loss is recoverable. The claim may be contractual, regulatory, discrimination-based or linked to a payment service. Each basis has its own jurisdiction and proof requirements. A French resident should not assume that a French court can hear every claim against a UK bank simply because the customer’s home is in France.

Where French law and a French court are genuinely applicable, the five-year civil limitation rule may be relevant. Article 2224 of the French Civil Code provides: “Les actions personnelles ou mobilières se prescrivent par cinq ans”. That is not a universal deadline for a UK banking complaint. Contractual complaint deadlines, Financial Ombudsman deadlines, special payment-service periods and foreign procedural rules can be shorter. Preserve the date of the closure notice and obtain advice before assuming that a five-year period protects every route.

In a French-bank dispute, the bank’s contract and the Code monétaire et financier may make a preavis or written-notice argument comparatively direct. In a UK-bank dispute, the UK account terms, the 2025 regulations, the bank’s complaint rules and the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction take priority. The evidence can still be assembled in France: proof of residence, bank statements, failed payments, replacement-account costs and correspondence are all relevant wherever the complaint is heard.

For a British reader who has just received a closure letter, the practical sequence is:

1. save the notice and record the real loss-of-access date;
2. open or secure a replacement account and map every payment;
3. ask in writing for the reason, notice calculation and closing-balance route;
4. send accurate identity, address and tax-residence documents through a secure channel;
5. redirect income, direct debits and standing orders and keep the confirmations;
6. submit a formal complaint with an indexed loss schedule; and
7. escalate to the Financial Ombudsman or obtain cross-border advice before the stated deadline.

That sequence preserves options. It also prevents the complaint from becoming an argument about Brexit in the abstract. The strongest file shows exactly what the bank decided, which rule and term applied, what access was lost, how the customer mitigated the problem and what amount remains unreimbursed.

Conclusion

A UK bank may be able to close the account of a customer who has moved to France after Brexit, particularly where its regulated service perimeter no longer covers French residents. That does not mean that every closure is immediate, unexplained or cost-free. The account type, opening date, contractual notice and any regulatory exception must be examined together. For many payment accounts, the relevant practical distinction is between the older two-month minimum and the 90-day regime for accounts opened after 28 April 2026, subject to the exact rules and exceptions.

Protect the closing balance and everyday payments first. Then challenge the process: notice, access, reason, verification, treatment of comparable customers and documented loss. The French right-to-an-account procedure may help a person domiciled in France obtain basic local services, but it is separate from the UK complaint. A formal bank complaint followed, where available, by the Financial Ombudsman route is usually the most efficient way to test an inadequate notice or an avoidable operational failure. Cross-border court action should be planned only after the governing law, jurisdiction and deadline have been checked.

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