For a foreign founder, bank charges are not merely a line in the accounts. They can decide whether a new French subsidiary can receive its first customer payment, pay its first employee, fund a VAT (value added tax) return, or keep a cross-border treasury arrangement under control. A new French rule adds a practical reason to audit the account now. Law no. 2026-403 of 26 May 2026 changes the framework for company bank accounts: closing a deposit account is free for a legal person, and the future wording of the French Monetary and Financial Code extends the annual fee summary to qualifying microenterprises. The Government also announces common names for principal banking services from 1 January 2027, while the consolidated future version of the Code displays 26 May 2027 for the amended Article L314-7 wording. That timing difference should be checked with the bank rather than guessed.

This guide is for a company established in France and owned, managed or funded from another country. It explains what the 2027 changes do, what they do not do, how to read a French tariff brochure, and how to challenge an unexplained charge without putting payroll or tax payments at risk. The practical objective is a documented fee audit, a controlled bank switch if needed, and a written response when the bank refuses information or applies a charge that the contract does not support. For the wider process of setting up the entity, see the firm’s French company formation and corporate structuring page.

I. What changes for a foreign-owned French company in 2027

A. Which fee information and account rights apply to your company?

The first distinction is between three different legal questions: whether the bank must disclose a tariff, whether it must provide an annual summary, and whether your company can leave the bank without a closing fee. Those questions do not have the same scope. A foreign shareholder does not place a French company outside French banking law. A French legal person with its registered office in France remains the customer of the French bank, even when its parent company, director, treasury centre or beneficial owner is abroad.

Article L312-1-1 of the Code monétaire et financier, the French Monetary and Financial Code, requires a credit institution to make its general and tariff conditions available to customers and the public. The current text of Article L312-1-1 also addresses the account agreement, amendments, termination and information supplied for payment operations. A bank should therefore be able to identify the contractual document and tariff brochure on which a “handling fee”, “account management fee”, “movement commission”, international transfer charge, card charge or foreign-exchange margin rests. An entry on a statement is not a substitute for identifying the contractual service.

For a founder reading French company documents, the following terms matter. A Kbis is the official extract showing a company’s registration particulars in the French Trade and Companies Register, or RCS (Registre du commerce et des sociétés). The RNE is the National Business Register, and INPI is the National Institute of Industrial Property, which operates the online one-stop shop for many company formalities. The greffe is the registry office of the competent commercial court. URSSAF is the body that collects much of the French social-security contributions. BODACC is the Bulletin officiel des annonces civiles et commerciales, the official bulletin for certain civil and commercial notices. These terms often appear in a bank’s onboarding or monitoring requests; they are not separate bank fees merely because the bank asks for a document connected with them.

The right to an account is also narrower than a right to a preferred banking relationship. Article L312-1 of the Monetary and Financial Code gives a person or legal entity domiciled in France a right to open a deposit account, provided it has no such account in France. The text of Article L312-1 permits the Banque de France, after a refusal, to designate a credit institution. The designated bank must provide the legally defined basic banking services, subject to the compliance requirements that remain applicable. The right does not compel a bank to offer a loan, overdraft, payment card with a particular limit, foreign-exchange pricing, or a multi-currency treasury product.

For a foreign-owned company, the refusal procedure should be treated as a file, not as an informal conversation. Keep the written refusal or refusal certificate, the company’s Kbis or RNE extract, articles of association, proof of the registered office, identification of the legal representative, powers of attorney, beneficial-owner information and evidence explaining the origin and expected use of funds. Service Public’s official page on refusal of a professional bank account and the right to an account explains the route for a business. The file may include a translation or apostille where a foreign corporate document is not readily verifiable. A bank’s request for information under LCB-FT rules—anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing rules—does not automatically prove that the refusal is unlawful. It does mean that the company should answer precisely and preserve the request and response.

The change introduced by Article 29 of Law no. 2026-403 of 26 May 2026 is more specific. From 28 May 2026, Article L312-1-7 states that closing a deposit account or savings account owned by a physical or legal person is free. The operative wording is: La clôture de tout compte de dépôt ou compte sur livret appartenant à une personne physique ou morale est gratuite. In practical terms, a French company should not be charged a fee simply for asking its bank to close the account. This is different from fees that arise before closure, such as an agreed payment service used during the transition, an overdraft, a card settlement, a foreign transfer, a loan break cost, or a separate service that has its own contractual basis.

Article L312-1-7 also contains a banking-mobility mechanism. Its most detailed automatic transfer provisions are designed around deposit and payment accounts held by individuals acting outside professional needs, so a company should not assume that the retail mobility service will transfer every business mandate. The provision nevertheless supports a disciplined switch: request the list of recurring debits and credits, obtain a closing balance, identify pending card settlements, and give suppliers, customers, employees, the tax administration and URSSAF the new bank details only after the receiving account is operational. A RIB is a French bank account identification statement containing the account details used for payments; for international transfers, confirm the IBAN and BIC directly with the receiving bank.

The annual fee summary is a separate issue. The future version of Article L314-7, shown on Légifrance as applying from 26 May 2027, adds microenterprises to the recipients of a document supplied during January. The future text says: Au cours du mois de janvier de chaque année, and requires a distinct document summarising amounts received during the preceding calendar year and distinguishing, for each category of product or service, the subtotal of fees and the number of corresponding products or services. The future version of Article L314-7 is the useful reference for the scope and wording. A microenterprise should confirm that its legal and financial profile falls within the cross-reference to Article 51 of Law no. 2008-776; “TPE”, meaning a very small business, is a common business expression and is not automatically the same legal category.

There is a timing point that deserves written confirmation. The Ministry of Economy’s business information page announces that banks will use common names for principal banking fees and services from 1 January 2027 in relations with professional and non-professional customers. Légifrance’s future Article L314-7 page states that the amended wording of that provision enters into force on 26 May 2027. The two official presentations should not be silently merged. Ask the bank which version of its tariff brochure will apply on 1 January 2027, when the common labels will appear for business customers, and when a qualifying company will receive its first annual summary. Keep the answer with the tariff brochure.

B. What the 2027 labels do not change about banking contracts?

Common labels improve comparison; they do not make every price unlawful or make every business account free. The bank may still price account maintenance, online banking, cards, payment acceptance, cash handling, international payments, foreign-exchange conversion, financing and bespoke treasury services. The legal question is whether the service was disclosed, agreed or validly amended, actually supplied, and charged in the manner stated in the applicable conditions. A label can make an unexplained charge easier to identify, but the label alone does not answer whether the amount is due.

The existing common naming rules are illustrated by the official Article 1 of Decree no. 2014-373 of 27 March 2014, which sets out standard descriptions for many banking operations. The decree uses categories such as an occasional transfer, a standing transfer, a rejected direct debit, an administrative opposition or an attachment charge. “SEPA” means the Single Euro Payments Area, the area in which euro transfers and direct debits follow a harmonised payment framework. A non-SEPA transfer, a payment in another currency, or an intermediary-bank charge may follow a different price line. A foreign-owned company that pays a parent, founder or supplier outside the SEPA area should therefore separate the bank’s own charge from a correspondent bank’s charge and from a foreign-exchange spread.

Read the tariff in four layers. First, identify the account package and its fixed recurring price. Second, identify charges linked to volume, such as a commission on movements, incoming payments or cash deposits. Third, identify event charges, such as an unsuccessful payment, urgent transfer, manual intervention or replacement card. Fourth, identify cross-border items, including currency conversion, international wire, SWIFT messaging, intermediary-bank deductions and an account held in a foreign currency. “SWIFT” is the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, the messaging network commonly used for international payment instructions; a SWIFT charge is not necessarily the same as the bank’s transfer fee.

For an overseas shareholder, currency conversion is often the largest hidden cost. A bank may show a small transfer charge while applying a margin in the exchange rate. Compare the amount debited in euros with the amount credited or instructed in the foreign currency, record the reference exchange rate and ask whether the quoted rate included a margin. The company’s accounting records should show the gross transaction, the bank charge and any exchange difference separately. This matters when the French entity receives money from a foreign parent, pays a foreign service provider, or repatriates dividends. Do not classify every difference as a banking fee; a genuine exchange difference has a different accounting and legal treatment.

The account agreement remains central when the bank proposes a new fee. Article L312-1-1 addresses tariff conditions and, for an indefinite deposit-account agreement, a bank-initiated termination subject to a notice period of at least two months, with statutory exceptions. The company’s professional account contract may contain additional provisions, and an overdraft or financing facility can have a separate notice regime. Before accepting a new tariff, download the version in force, the proposed version, the date of application and the contractual clause used to introduce the change. If the company rejects a material change, ask whether the bank treats that refusal as a termination and what date and notice it applies.

The case law shows why notice and evidence cannot be reduced to a slogan. In Cour de cassation, Commercial Chamber, 2 June 2015, no. 13-19.810, the dispute concerned a professional account, a credit facility and closure. The decision records that, where the professional account agreement did not state a closing notice period, a 60-day period was considered un délai raisonnable in the facts of that case. The same decision found fault in the bank’s simultaneous and unjustified treatment of a card incident, because the company was not given a real opportunity to regularise. The point is practical: a bank can have a contractual right to end a relationship, yet still create liability by handling the transition or an incident unfairly.

In Cour de cassation, Commercial Chamber, 3 November 2010, no. 09-69.533, the Court partially quashed a decision concerning a bank account and an insolvency proceeding because the lower court had not properly established the legal basis for reversing a transfer and demanding the account balance. This is not a general rule that a bank may never act during insolvency. It is a reminder that account closure, payment reversals, overdrafts and insolvency events must be analysed by their precise legal trigger. A foreign founder should not rely on a generic email from a relationship manager where payroll, tax or a restructuring risk is involved.

Finally, do not confuse a free closing fee with a release from all account liabilities. Before signing a closure request, ask for the exact date of closure, the amount of pending charges, the treatment of cheques and card transactions, the destination of any positive balance, the treatment of a debit balance and the documents that will remain available. The law can remove a closing charge while the company still owes a valid fee or financing amount already incurred. A controlled exit preserves the company’s ability to challenge an improper charge without creating a new payment default.

II. How to audit fees, challenge errors and preserve banking continuity

A. What should a foreign founder collect before disputing a fee?

Start with a twelve-month evidence pack. Download every monthly statement, fee notice, tariff brochure, account agreement, amendment notice and account-management message. Ask the bank for the annual fee summary when the company qualifies for one, but do not wait for January if a disputed fee is affecting cash flow. Export the transactions in a machine-readable format, then keep the original PDF statements. For each charge, record the booking date, value date, description, amount, currency, account, service used, tariff reference and supporting transaction.

Build a reconciliation with one row per fee. The columns should distinguish a fixed account fee, a fee per operation, a percentage commission, an incident charge, a foreign-exchange margin, an intermediary-bank deduction and a financing charge. Add a column for VAT where the bank’s invoice or statement applies it. A bank statement may abbreviate a service, so request the bank’s code legend. If the label changes in 2027, preserve the old and new labels in the same row. That makes it possible to show that two apparently different labels describe the same service, or that one new label hides several old charges.

Then compare the entries with four documents:

• the account agreement and any mandate signed by the legal representative;
• the tariff brochure in force when the service was used;
• the notice of a tariff change, including the delivery date and effective date; and
• the transaction or incident that allegedly triggered the fee.

For a foreign-owned French company, add a fifth document: the group treasury instruction. It may show that a payment was intended as a SEPA credit transfer, a non-SEPA payment, a currency conversion or a same-day service. The instruction should be compared with the bank’s confirmation, not with the parent company’s internal label. If a French subsidiary uses a foreign parent’s payment platform, identify whether the French bank is the account-holding institution, a payment service provider or only an intermediary. “Payment service provider” is broader than a traditional bank and may include a payment institution or electronic-money institution.

Check the company’s compliance file at the same time. A bank may suspend or delay an unusual payment while refreshing its LCB-FT information, checking the beneficial owner or confirming the source of funds. A beneficial owner is the natural person who ultimately owns or controls the entity, not simply the local director. If the bank requests a corporate chart, passport, proof of address, foreign tax identification, board resolution or source-of-funds evidence, respond in a numbered bundle. Explain the commercial purpose, the parties, the expected amount and the destination. If documents are in another language, supply a reliable translation where requested. Do not conceal an intermediary, nominee, trust or group loan; incomplete answers can prolong the review and make later fee disputes harder to assess.

Evidence of communication matters. A dispute sent from a personal email by a founder may not be treated as a formal instruction from the company. Use the company’s registered contact channel and identify the legal representative or authorised agent. Quote the statement date and fee line, attach the relevant tariff page, and ask the bank to state its contractual and factual basis. Request a refund, but also ask for a prospective correction so the same charge does not recur. Give the bank a reasonable response date and preserve proof of delivery.

The legal framework supports a document-based approach. Article L312-1-1 requires public availability of account tariff conditions, and the annual-summary rules under Article L314-7 in its future wording are designed to distinguish categories, totals and the number of relevant products or services for qualifying microenterprises. The objective is not merely to collect a total. It is to trace each total back to a service and then to the contract.

Interest and overdraft charges need a separate check. TEG means taux effectif global, or overall effective rate. In Cour de cassation, Commercial Chamber, 5 September 2018, no. 17-17.674, concerning a professional account with a debit balance, the Court upheld the result that the conventional interest clause was invalid and legal interest substituted where the required TEG information and proof of periodic statements were missing. The text refers to la nullité de la stipulation d’intérêts conventionnels. This does not turn every account fee into an interest charge. It does show why a company should preserve the written agreement, the periodic account statements and proof of what the bank actually sent.

Silence can also create risk. In Cour de cassation, Commercial Chamber, 11 December 2019, no. 18-15.369, the Court’s published analysis states that an agreement about the price of services can, in some circumstances, result from similar fees appearing in a statement received without protest or reservation. The case also concerned evidence and the particular account history. A company should not treat this as a universal approval of every line. It should send a prompt, specific reservation when a fee is unclear, while continuing to pay undisputed items and keeping enough liquidity for essential obligations.

Use an internal approval rule during the audit: one person extracts the data, a second person checks the tariff, and the director or authorised signatory approves a formal dispute. For a group, send the parent company a short schedule showing the French entity, the account, the fee category, the disputed amount, the legal or contractual reason and the proposed action. That schedule is useful evidence if the bank later closes the account or if a successor bank asks why the company changed institutions.

B. How should the company challenge, switch or litigate without interrupting payments?

Use a staged escalation. The first letter should be narrow and factual. Identify the company, account number in masked form, statement date, fee description, amount, currency and date. State whether the company disputes the existence of the service, the amount, the tariff version, the notice, the duplication or the application to a professional customer. Attach only the documents needed to prove the point. Ask the bank to provide the tariff page, contractual clause, calculation and service evidence if it rejects the refund.

The second stage is a management review. Ask for the bank’s customer-relations service and, where the contract provides for it, the applicable mediation route. A mediator may help with a service dispute, but mediation does not replace an urgent court application, preserve every limitation period or compel a bank to continue lending. A company should state that it is reserving its rights while it seeks an operational solution. Never stop a direct debit, payroll batch or tax payment merely because a fee is challenged unless the payment itself is unlawful or unauthorised and the consequences have been assessed.

If the dispute concerns a bank’s termination or a threatened account closure, separate the ordinary account from any credit facility. Obtain the bank’s written decision, reason where provided, notice period, proposed closure date and instructions for the balance. Article L312-1-1 contains a two-month minimum notice for a bank terminating an indefinite deposit-account agreement, subject to legal exceptions, while a credit facility may be withdrawn under its own rules. The decision in no. 13-19.810 shows that a 60-day notice was treated as reasonable in the facts of a professional-account dispute, but the same decision also illustrates the danger of abruptly combining a card restriction, incident report and closure without a legitimate factual basis.

Preserve the right to seek restitution. Article L110-4 of the Commercial Code provides a five-year limitation period for commercial obligations between traders or between a trader and a non-trader unless a shorter special period applies. The official Article L110-4 text is the starting point, not a substitute for analysing the cause of action and the date from which the period runs. In Cour de cassation, Commercial Chamber, 30 January 2019, no. 17-20.496, involving a professional account, the Court held that a claim for the restitution of improperly charged interest, fees and commissions—whether made as an action or a defence—was subject to the limitation in Article L110-4. Its wording states that the request est soumise à la prescription édictée par l’article L. 110-4 du code de commerce. Send a reservation and obtain legal advice early; a spreadsheet made years later may not prove the original tariff or the date of discovery.

If the company chooses a new bank, open the replacement account before requesting closure. Test an incoming euro payment, a cross-border payment, a supplier direct debit, a salary batch and a tax payment. Confirm whether the new provider supports the company’s required payment types, currencies, user permissions, dual approval, accounting export and fraud controls. Give the new RIB to customers and suppliers through a controlled process. Update the French tax account, VAT payment mandate, URSSAF payment instruction, payroll provider and any corporate card or payment terminal. Ask the old bank for the recurring-operation list and monitor the old account through the transition period.

Article L312-1-7 makes closure free and provides a statutory framework for certain mobility information. Its text also refers to a thirteen-month period for information about operations presented after a supported closure and a six-working-day timetable in a cross-border European account situation. Those provisions do not eliminate the company’s own duty to notify counterparties. For a company with a foreign parent, the safe approach is parallel control: retain the old account until all expected receipts and debits have cleared, maintain a cash buffer, and document the date on which each mandate moved. A zero balance is not proof that no payment will arrive.

If a new bank refuses the company, ask immediately for a written refusal certificate. The official Service Public business procedure explains that a company can request the right-to-account process, under which the Banque de France designates a credit institution and basic services are supplied under the statutory framework. The application should be filed with a complete identity and company pack. Include the Kbis or RNE evidence, the legal representative’s identity, proof of the French address, the refusal certificate and the mandate of anyone filing for the company. The designated account is not a promise of overdraft or international features; ask the designated bank what basic services it will provide and what additional services require a separate contract.

A court claim may be appropriate where the bank refuses to explain charges, applies a fee with no contractual basis, mishandles a termination, or causes a demonstrable loss. The claim should identify the legal person, the account agreement, the fee schedule, the disputed rows, the correspondence, the loss and the remedy sought. It may seek restitution, damages, correction of account entries or an urgent measure, depending on the facts. The company should not publish an accusation of unlawful conduct before the evidence has been reviewed. A measured letter that invites correction often protects the commercial relationship while preserving the litigation record.

For a founder outside France, give the French lawyer a complete chronology rather than only a total amount. Include when the company was incorporated, when the Kbis was issued, when the account opened, when the parent funded it, when the fee appeared, when the bank changed its tariff, when the company protested, when the bank replied and when the business opened a replacement account. Explain whether a director, accountant, payment agent or parent company gave the instruction. A cross-border banking dispute is often decided by the sequence of documents rather than by the label on a single statement.

The audit should end with a one-page decision. Keep the account and negotiate; keep the account but seek a refund; open a second account and migrate; invoke the right-to-account procedure; or commence a claim. Record the reason, the cash-flow safeguards, the next deadline and the person responsible. Store the final tariff and annual summary in the company’s compliance file. The INPI portal and French tax administration are useful official reference points for the company’s formalities and tax obligations, but neither replaces the account contract or the bank’s own tariff evidence.

Conclusion

The 2027 banking changes give foreign-owned French companies a concrete reason to audit their account before a fee dispute becomes a cash-flow emergency. The free-closure rule applies to a legal person, the future annual summary is aimed at qualifying microenterprises as well as individuals and associations, and the common-label reform should make tariff brochures easier to compare. The official sources presently show a timing distinction between the Ministry’s 1 January 2027 communication and the future Article L314-7 wording dated 26 May 2027. A written confirmation from the bank is therefore part of the audit.

Collect the contract, tariff versions, statements, annual summary, payment evidence and correspondence. Separate ordinary account fees from foreign-exchange margins, intermediary charges, overdraft interest and financing costs. Challenge unclear lines promptly, reserve the company’s rights, and keep payroll, VAT, tax, URSSAF and supplier payments running during any switch. If the account is refused or threatened with closure, obtain the written decision and assess the right-to-account route and the applicable notice rules. The central question is not whether a foreign founder may use a French bank account; it is whether the bank can show, line by line, why the company owes the amount and how the relationship can be ended lawfully.

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