A foreign-owned French SAS can be refused a business bank account because its president lives abroad or because the bank wants a French-resident director. That request must be analysed carefully. French company law does not make a French-resident president a general condition for a société par actions simplifiée (SAS, a simplified joint-stock company), and it expressly allows a legal person to be appointed president. A bank, however, has its own customer-acceptance and anti-money-laundering duties. It may ask who can sign, where the business is managed, who ultimately controls the company and how money will move through the account. It may also refuse an ordinary commercial relationship, subject to the statutory procedure that gives an eligible company access to the professional right to an account. The practical issue is therefore not simply whether the founder is foreign. It is whether the refusal confuses the company’s legal structure with a bank’s risk policy, whether the file proves the authority and beneficial ownership chain, and whether the company has obtained the written refusal needed to approach the Banque de France. This guide addresses the French company and its banking file. A founder who intends to move to France, perform regular work there or obtain an immigration status needs a separate personal analysis. The article focuses on a foreign-owned SAS operating in France, its non-resident president, the Kbis and the remedies available after a refusal.

For the wider corporate-formation context, see the firm’s French company law and business-structuring service page. The present article deals with the narrower banking question and should be read together with the company’s actual articles, registration documents and correspondence.

I. Can a French bank require a foreign-owned SAS to appoint a French-resident director?

A. What do the SAS statutes and the Kbis actually require?

The first question is one of corporate law, not banking procedure. A French SAS is governed by articles of association, known as the statuts. Article L. 227-5 of the French Commercial Code states, in the exact wording returned by Légifrance: Les statuts fixent les conditions dans lesquelles la société est dirigée. The provision gives the articles a central role in organising management. It does not say that the president must live in France, hold French nationality or maintain a French personal home.

The mandatory external office is the president. Article L. 227-6 of the French Commercial Code begins: La société est représentée à l’égard des tiers par un président désigné dans les conditions prévues par les statuts. It then gives that president extensive powers to act for the company within the corporate purpose and says that statutory limits on those powers are not enforceable against third parties. The text also allows the articles to give comparable powers to one or more directors-general or deputy directors-general. Nothing in this statutory description creates a general French-residence requirement.

The law is even more explicit when the president is a company. Article L. 227-7 of the French Commercial Code provides: Lorsqu’une personne morale est nommée président ou dirigeant d’une société par actions simplifiée, the directors of that legal person are subject to the same conditions and obligations and may incur the same civil and criminal responsibilities as if they acted in their own name, without removing the joint responsibility of the legal person. A foreign holding company can therefore be appointed president of a French SAS in appropriate circumstances. The rule makes the people behind that foreign president important; it does not turn a French-resident director into an automatic condition of the French SAS.

That distinction has several consequences for a non-resident founder. The founder can be a shareholder living in the United Kingdom, the United States, Switzerland, Singapore or another country. The president can be an individual living abroad, or, where the structure permits it, a foreign legal person. The company can give a separate authorised signatory or a director-general authority to deal with customers and the bank. A power of attorney can allow a lawyer, accountant or employee to transmit documents without making that person a corporate director. Those arrangements must be reflected in valid corporate resolutions and must not conceal who actually controls or manages the business.

A bank’s request for a French-resident director should therefore be separated into three possible propositions:

1. the bank believes that French company law requires a resident president;
2. the bank wants a person in France who can be contacted, verify documents or attend an appointment; or
3. the bank has adopted a commercial or risk policy under which it does not onboard a company whose effective management, signatory or controlling persons are all outside France.

The first proposition is not supported by the wording of Articles L. 227-5 to L. 227-7. The second may be an operational request that can sometimes be addressed by a mandate, a French contact point or an in-person verification. The third may result in an ordinary account refusal even though the company’s corporate structure is valid. A foreign founder should ask the bank which of these propositions it is applying instead of immediately appointing a nominee who has no real role.

The Kbis does not answer every banking question. Kbis is the commonly used name for the official extract identifying a company registered in the French Trade and Companies Register, or RCS (Registre du commerce et des sociétés). The commercial court registry office is the greffe. The National Institute of Industrial Property, or INPI (Institut national de la propriété industrielle), operates the electronic one-stop shop through which company formalities are filed. The information also feeds the RNE (Registre national des entreprises, the National Business Register). The Kbis shows the company’s registered details and recorded representatives; it does not certify that a bank has completed its customer due diligence.

A French registered office is not the same as a director’s home. The company may have a lawful French siège social supported by a lease or domiciliation agreement while its president lives abroad. The bank may ask where the activity is effectively directed, but it must not confuse a registered-office document with proof that the president is personally resident in France. A foreign founder should provide both facts accurately: the address of the company’s registered office and the real residential and tax-residence details of the individuals who own, represent or direct it.

The contrast with a SARL must also be handled precisely. A SARL is a société à responsabilité limitée, or limited-liability company. Article L. 223-18 of the French Commercial Code states that a SARL is managed by one or more natural persons. That is a form-specific rule about the nature of the gérant, or manager. It does not, in the wording quoted, impose a French-residence condition. A foreign founder choosing a SARL must appoint a natural-person manager and then assess that person’s actual activities, remuneration, immigration position and social-security coverage separately. The SAS is more flexible because a legal person can be president, but neither form should be used to invent a person who does not perform the office.

A branch, called a succursale, is different again. It is an establishment of the foreign company and is not a new French subsidiary with its own legal personality. Its bank file will focus on the foreign company’s existence, the French establishment, the local representative’s authority, the registered address, the ownership chain and the flows to and from the head office. The fact that a branch may need a representative in France does not establish that a French-resident president is required for every French SAS.

French company law also separates the office from the person’s immigration position. The appointment of a non-resident president does not, by itself, determine whether that person may work regularly in France, be paid for duties performed in France, obtain a residence permit or become affiliated to French social security. Conversely, a person who has a French residence permit is not automatically the right person to become president. Those questions belong to the facts of the individual’s presence and activity. The firm’s separate guide on a non-EU founder incorporating a French SAS from abroad should be used for that personal and immigration analysis.

The safe corporate answer is to keep the governance real and documented. The articles should identify the president and any director-general. A shareholder or board resolution should record the appointment. If a foreign corporate president acts through an individual, the foreign company should provide the resolution or mandate proving that individual’s authority. If a local lawyer or accountant deals with the bank, the mandate should identify the French company, the bank-opening task and the documents the agent may transmit or sign. A person who is merely a contact point should not be presented as a director, beneficial owner or manager.

B. What can a bank ask under its customer-identification and AML duties?

The second question concerns the bank’s separate legal duties. AML means anti-money laundering; the corresponding French framework is the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing. KYC means “know your customer”, the practical process through which a bank identifies and assesses its customer. Article L. 561-5 of the Monetary and Financial Code requires the relevant institution, before entering into a business relationship, to identify the customer and, where applicable, the beneficial owner and to verify the information with reliable written evidence. The exact statutory wording includes: Identifient leur client et, le cas échéant, le bénéficiaire effectif.

The bank must also understand why the relationship exists. Article L. 561-5-1 of the Monetary and Financial Code says that, before entering into the relationship, the institution collects information about its purpose and nature and any other relevant information, then updates that information throughout the relationship. A bank can therefore ask about the French activity, the reason for the registered office, the expected countries of payment, the currencies, the main customers and suppliers, the initial funding and the person who will operate the account.

For a legal entity, Article R. 561-5 of the Monetary and Financial Code specifies the identification framework. The bank collects the legal form, legal name, registration number, registered-office address and, if different, the place where the activity is effectively directed. The operative wording begins: Lorsque le client est une personne morale, par le recueil de sa forme juridique, de sa dénomination, de son numéro d’immatriculation. This explains why a bank may ask about a non-resident president without that question proving that the president must become French-resident.

The beneficial owner is not simply the foreign parent company. Article L. 561-2-2 of the Monetary and Financial Code defines the beneficial owner as the natural person or persons who ultimately control the customer directly or indirectly, or for whom an operation is carried out or an activity is exercised. The statutory definition begins: le bénéficiaire effectif est la ou les personnes physiques. UBO, often used in English for “ultimate beneficial owner”, means this final natural person. A foreign shareholder chain must therefore continue beyond a United States corporation, British limited company, Luxembourg holding company, fund or partnership until the relevant individuals and control rights are identified.

The bank may legitimately ask for more than the Kbis. The usual package for a foreign-owned SAS should be assembled in four blocks:

• French company: current Kbis, articles, registered-office evidence, capital information, corporate purpose, appointment decision and any record of a director-general or authorised signatory;
• foreign ownership: a recent registry extract for each foreign parent or intermediate company, constitutional documents, shareholder or member records, relevant resolutions and a dated group chart;
• people and authority: identity documents, residential addresses, tax-residence information where requested, proof of the foreign president’s authority and any specific power of attorney; and
• activity and funds: a concise business description, expected flows, main jurisdictions, source of capital, contracts or invoices where available, and an explanation of why a French account is needed.

A bank can also ask for a French contact point, a video interview or a physical appointment. These may be operational controls rather than a demand that the company change its president. Ask whether the bank would accept a properly authorised French mandataire, meaning an agent, who can receive correspondence and coordinate documents. An accountant’s or lawyer’s mandate does not give that professional power to act beyond its written scope, and it does not transfer the company’s management. If the bank insists that only a French-resident director is acceptable, request that it state whether the condition is a legal requirement, an internal policy or a response to a particular missing document.

Cross-border activity also requires a coherent explanation. An account receiving capital from a foreign parent, paying French suppliers and transferring dividends or service fees back to the group is not inherently suspicious. The bank must understand the economic purpose and monitor the actual transactions. In Cour de cassation, Commercial Chamber, 3 May 2016, appeal no. 14-24.598, the Court’s verified reasoning referred to the fact that le simple fait que des sommes, même significatives, soient remises par des particuliers pour être transférées à l’étranger could not, by itself and in the circumstances examined, establish the prohibited activity alleged against the company. The decision does not excuse a company from explaining its flows. It illustrates why foreign transfers must be assessed with the business model and the surrounding evidence rather than treated as automatic proof of wrongdoing.

The bank’s vigilance continues after opening. Article L. 561-6 of the Monetary and Financial Code requires constant vigilance and careful examination of transactions against the updated knowledge of the business relationship. The exact text includes: ces personnes exercent … une vigilance constante. Notify the bank when the president changes, the foreign parent is reorganised, the beneficial owner changes, the activity expands to a new country or the expected transaction profile materially changes. A file that was adequate at incorporation can become incomplete after a share transfer or a new cross-border contract.

The bank may not establish or continue the relationship if it cannot complete identification. Article L. 561-8 of the Monetary and Financial Code says that an institution which cannot satisfy the required identification and relationship-purpose duties does not establish or continue the relationship. Crucially, paragraph II applies the same rule when a credit institution has been designated by the Banque de France under the right-to-account procedure. A designated bank is not released from KYC because the company has obtained a refusal certificate. The company must provide the ownership and authority evidence needed to make the account legally operable.

That rule is why appointing a friendly French resident as a nominal director is usually a poor response. It may create an inaccurate Kbis, an unexplained beneficial-owner or control chain, and personal liability for a person who does not actually direct the company. It also does not answer the bank’s questions about the foreign shareholder, source of funds or expected payments. A genuine local signatory with a defined mandate can be useful. A fictitious director can make the file harder to approve and create a governance dispute.

The ordinary commercial account and the statutory right to an account should also be distinguished. Article L. 123-24 of the Commercial Code states: Tout commerçant est tenu de se faire ouvrir un compte dans un établissement de crédit ou dans un bureau de chèques postaux. The company has a practical obligation to use an account, but that does not mean that the first bank contacted must accept the standard relationship on the company’s preferred terms. The refusal triggers a separate statutory route, explained below.

II. What should the company do after its account is refused?

A. How can a foreign-owned SAS use the professional right-to-account procedure?

The right-to-account procedure is the principal remedy when a bank refuses the company because its president or owners are abroad. It is not a claim that the first bank must change its policy. It is a request to the Banque de France, or BDF (the French central bank), to designate a credit institution that must provide a deposit account with the statutory basic services if the applicant is eligible and the compliance checks can be completed.

Article L. 312-1 of the Monetary and Financial Code sets the starting condition. Its first paragraph provides: A droit à l’ouverture d’un compte de dépôt dans l’établissement de crédit de son choix, sous réserve d’être dépourvu d’un tel compte en France : 1° Toute personne physique ou morale domiciliée en France. For a French SAS, the relevant applicant is the legal entity. The founder’s personal nationality or foreign residence does not remove the company’s eligibility if the company is domiciled in France and has no deposit account in France.

Eligibility must be checked, not assumed. A French subsidiary with a registered office in France and a Kbis is usually easier to document than a foreign parent that merely sells to French customers. A branch or establishment requires a careful review of its French registration, domicile and legal status. The company must also identify whether it already has a French deposit account, including an account that was opened after capital deposit and remains active. If an existing account is still available, the “deprived of an account” condition may not be satisfied even if the company wants a different bank.

Start with a complete, traceable application to a credit institution. Identify the company by its legal name, Kbis or registration information, registered office and purpose. Identify the requested product as a deposit account for the French legal person. Do not describe a personal account for the president, a capital-deposit account for a company in formation or a payment account at an electronic-money institution as though it were the same product. Keep the application, uploaded documents, automatic acknowledgement and the date the bank received the file.

Ask for the attestation de refus d’ouverture de compte, the written certificate of refusal to open the account. Under Article L. 312-1, the refusing institution must provide it systematically, free of charge and without delay, and inform the applicant that the Banque de France can designate a credit institution. If the bank does not answer, Article R. 312-6-1 of the Monetary and Financial Code treats silence for fifteen days after the acknowledgement of receipt or hand delivery of the application as a refusal. The text states: le silence gardé par un établissement de crédit pendant un délai de quinze jours … est considéré comme un refus d’ouvrir le compte. At the end of that period, the institution must communicate the refusal certificate and its reason.

Do not count fifteen days from the day an incomplete online form was started. Preserve proof that the bank received a genuine account-opening request and note any later request for missing documents. If the bank says the file is incomplete, answer the request and ask whether the account-opening request is being refused or remains pending. If the bank stops responding, send a formal follow-up that identifies the original receipt date and asks for either a final decision or the refusal certificate. The aim is to create a reliable procedural record, not to provoke a bank employee into revealing confidential risk information.

The Banque de France application should be made for the company and should contain a coherent document pack. The current official framework includes the following evidence, subject to the checklist in force on the filing date:

• the company’s right-to-account request and the signature of the authorised legal representative or agent;
• the refusal certificate, or evidence of the request and the statutory period of silence;
• a recent Kbis or other official evidence of the French legal entity and registered office;
• the identity document of the president or other legal representative;
• the articles, appointment resolution and power of attorney if an agent files the request;
• the foreign parent’s registry evidence, the dated ownership chart and the identities of the ultimate natural-person controllers; and
• any translation, certification, apostille or legalisation required for the particular foreign documents.

The official Service Public Entreprendre guidance on a refusal to open a professional bank account explains the refusal and right-to-account process, while the Banque de France information for companies describes the practical route and supporting documents. The order of 31 July 2015 on the right-to-account procedure should be checked against the current form. A foreign company should not rely on a checklist copied from another founder’s application because the documents differ between a French subsidiary, a branch, a legal-person president and a company with a complex ownership chain.

The statutory timetable begins once the Banque de France has the required documents. Article L. 312-1 provides for designation of a credit institution within one business day after receipt of the required pieces. The designated bank then has its own communication obligation. Article R. 312-7 of the Monetary and Financial Code states that the designated institution must notify the applicant, within three working days after receiving the designation decision, of the documents needed to open the account and the relevant branch’s name and contact details. Its wording includes: dans les trois jours ouvrés à compter de la réception de la décision de désignation.

After the company sends the complete documents to the designated bank, Article L. 312-1 provides for opening the deposit account within three working days from receipt of all documents necessary for opening. The clock is not a promise that every foreign-language document will be accepted without review. If the bank asks for a current foreign registry extract, an authenticated translation, a clearer ownership chart or proof of the signatory’s authority, answer the request and record the transmission date. A checklist from the designated bank should be treated as a controlled closing list.

The resulting account is useful but limited. Article D. 312-5 of the Monetary and Financial Code lists basic services, beginning with: Les prestations de base mentionnées au II de l’article L. 312-1 comprennent : 1° L’ouverture, la tenue et la clôture du compte. The services include account statements, bank-identity information, direct debits, transfers, receipt of cheques and transfers, remote balance access and defined payment-card services. A RIB (relevé d’identité bancaire, the bank details used for payments) and SEPA transfers may be available, but the right to an account does not require an overdraft, loan, guarantee, merchant-acquiring facility, premium card or every multi-currency feature.

The right-to-account procedure also does not eliminate the compliance barrier. Paragraph II of Article L. 561-8 expressly applies when a credit institution has been designated by the Banque de France and cannot satisfy the identification obligations. If the company cannot prove who controls it, where the funds originate or what the account will do, the designated bank may be unable to establish the relationship. The correct strategy is to prove the corporate structure and answer the bank’s lawful questions, not to claim that the designation removes AML duties.

A refusal because there is no French-resident director should therefore be recorded precisely. If the bank’s letter says only “commercial decision”, keep it. If it says that the bank requires a French-resident president, ask whether it is relying on a specific legal provision. If the bank identifies a missing local signatory, registered-office proof or effective-management explanation, cure that deficiency if it is accurate and commercially acceptable. The right-to-account file should attach the refusal and explain that the company’s legal representative lives abroad, while showing the valid appointment and the authority of any agent or local contact.

B. How should the company rebuild its file and operate without changing its director?

The company should respond on two tracks: preserve its corporate structure and make the banking file reviewable. The first track prevents a bank request from producing a false appointment. The second gives the bank or the Banque de France a clear answer to every identification question. The following sequence is practical for a foreign-owned SAS.

1. Ask the bank to classify the condition. Request a written distinction between a statutory requirement, an internal policy, a missing document and a risk decision. Ask whether a properly authorised French mandataire or a director-general with a real operational role would address the concern. Do not demand confidential suspicious-transaction information.
2. Prepare the SAS authority chain. Provide the current articles, the shareholder or board appointment decision, the Kbis and the document showing who may sign for a foreign corporate president. If an individual signs for the foreign parent, attach the parent’s resolution or mandate. If a director-general or local signatory exists, define that role accurately.
3. Prepare one ownership chart. Show every parent and intermediate entity, its jurisdiction and registration number, capital and voting percentages, special rights, appointment rights and the date of each relevant change. Continue to the final natural persons. Explain the fallback position if no person can be identified through ownership or control.
4. Write an activity and funds memorandum. State why the French SAS exists, what it sells, where it operates, who will pay it, who it will pay, the expected monthly flows and the source of initial capital. Distinguish capital, shareholder loans, revenue, dividends, royalties and intercompany service fees. Attach contracts or evidence where it exists.
5. Make the request traceable. Send the application in the French company’s name, keep the acknowledgement and follow up in writing. If the bank refuses, request the refusal certificate. If it remains silent, preserve proof of receipt and calculate the fifteen-day period under Article R. 312-6-1.
6. File with the Banque de France if eligible. Submit the refusal evidence, recent corporate documents, representative identity, authority documents and foreign ownership evidence. State that the company seeks a deposit account under Article L. 312-1, not credit or a particular commercial package.
7. Answer the designated bank by exhibit number. Send a document index, identify the page that proves each fact, and answer additional questions without changing the ownership story. Ask the bank to confirm when the file is complete.

The document index should distinguish the French institutions that appear in the file. INPI is the filing operator, not the bank. The greffe is the commercial court registry office that processes or records relevant company information. The Kbis is an official company extract, not proof of bank acceptance. The RNE is the national company register. The BODACC (Bulletin officiel des annonces civiles et commerciales) is the official bulletin that publishes certain corporate and commercial notices. URSSAF, the network whose name expands to Unions de recouvrement des cotisations de sécurité sociale et d’allocations familiales, collects French social-security contributions. A company may need its bank account for payroll and URSSAF payments, but a URSSAF registration does not prove that a director must be resident in France.

A useful response matrix looks like this:

Bank statement	Question to resolve	Evidence or remedy
“A French-resident director is required.”	Is the bank identifying a rule of French company law or its own policy?	Provide Articles L. 227-5 to L. 227-7, the appointment chain and ask for the written policy basis.
“We need a person in France.”	Is the need for a contact, verification, signature or effective-management evidence?	Offer a genuine mandate, defined local signatory or appointment meeting, without inventing a director.
“The foreign owner cannot be verified.”	Which link in the ownership or control chain is missing?	Provide current foreign extracts, identity documents, control rights and certified translations where required.
“The activity and transfers are unclear.”	What will the account receive and pay, and why?	Provide an activity memorandum, contracts, source-of-funds evidence and expected-flow table.
“The application is refused or unanswered.”	Has the company obtained the evidence needed for the Banque de France route?	Request the refusal certificate or preserve proof of receipt and apply the fifteen-day silence rule.

The company should be cautious about the phrase “effective management”. The bank may need the address where the French company’s business is actually directed, especially when the registered office is a domiciliation address. That question is not the same as demanding that the president move to France. Explain where management decisions are made, who performs day-to-day functions, who approves payments and how the company uses its French premises. If the president lives abroad and travels to France for limited meetings, state that accurately. If the president works regularly in France, obtain a separate immigration, employment, tax and social-security review.

The same care applies to a local professional. A French accountant may prepare bookkeeping, a lawyer may transmit the right-to-account application and a commercial agent may negotiate contracts. None becomes the company’s president merely by communicating with a bank. The mandate should state whether the person may submit documents, answer questions, sign a bank form, receive statements or operate payments. The bank can still require the president or another legal representative to complete identity verification. Remote onboarding is not an automatic legal right for a corporate customer; it is a process the bank may accept or refuse under its controls.

The case law supports a factual, evidence-based approach to bank vigilance. In Cour de cassation, Commercial Chamber, 20 January 2021, joined appeals nos. 19-13.545 and 19-16.135, the verified materials stated: en vertu du devoir de vigilance auquel il est tenu tant à l’ouverture que pendant le fonctionnement du compte. The case concerned allegations about a bank’s vigilance around a company account and the Court required the lower court to examine the relevant facts. It is not a decision that imposes a French-resident director. It is a reminder that the bank’s review can cover the opening and the later operation of the account, and that the company should make its activity and transaction explanations consistent from the first application onward.

Once the account is opened, the company should maintain a compliance file rather than treating the Kbis as a permanent passport. Keep current foreign registry extracts and translations. Notify the bank of a new president, director-general, shareholder, beneficial owner, registered office or material business activity. Reconcile the bank account with accounting records. Preserve contracts supporting large transfers. If the company begins paying employees and URSSAF, identify the payroll process and payment mandates. If it begins charging VAT or corporate income tax, connect the professional tax space on impots.gouv.fr to the correct payment arrangements. These operating steps reduce the risk that a later compliance review will be interpreted as an unexplained change of business.

If the account is opened through the right-to-account procedure, remember the termination rules. Article L. 312-1 limits unilateral termination of a statutory basic-services account to listed situations, including deliberate use for suspected illegal operations, inaccurate information, loss of the domicile condition, a later second French deposit account, repeated incivility or a situation covered by Article L. 561-8. In ordinary cases, the statutory text provides a minimum two-month notice; the exceptions for illegal use or inaccurate information are significant. A foreign-owned company should therefore correct inaccurate information quickly and respond to an AML request with evidence, while recognising that a bank cannot be required to ignore a genuine inability to identify the customer.

The remedy is not limited to sending the same application to another branch. If one bank refuses because it wants a French-resident director, the company can seek a commercial alternative, ask whether a genuine local mandate would satisfy the operational concern, and use the right-to-account route if it has no French deposit account and meets the statutory conditions. The company should not open a personal account for the president and use it for corporate transactions, route company funds through an undisclosed nominee or describe a payment account as a bank account for capital or statutory purposes. Each shortcut can create a new compliance or accounting problem.

For the wider incorporation project, the firm’s English guide to setting up a company in France as a foreign founder covers the broader sequence of registration, Kbis, VAT and the first hire. The present article has a narrower purpose: it deals with a refusal tied to the absence of a French-resident director and shows how to separate the company-law question from the bank’s compliance process. A later account closure after an AML review is a different event with different evidence and timing; it should not be collapsed into the initial refusal analysis.

Before escalating, run a final five-question review:

1. Do the articles, Kbis, appointment decision and foreign parent documents identify the same president and signatory?
2. Can the bank follow the ownership chain to the natural persons who ultimately control the SAS?
3. Does the activity memorandum explain every expected country, currency, major payment and source of funds?
4. Does the company have a written refusal or reliable proof of the application and silence?
5. Is the requested remedy an operating account, a capital-deposit account, a payment account, credit or another product?

If the answer to the first four questions is yes and the bank still refuses because the president is not French-resident, the refusal should be preserved rather than hidden. It may be a commercial decision that the company cannot force the first bank to reverse, but it gives the company a clearer basis for another application or for the Banque de France procedure. If the bank’s request reveals a real inconsistency in authority, beneficial ownership or effective activity, correct that inconsistency before seeking a remedy. The quality of the corporate file is more important than the nationality of the founder.

Conclusion

A French bank may ask why a foreign-owned SAS has a president who lives abroad, but French company law does not make a French-resident director a universal condition of the SAS. Articles L. 227-5 to L. 227-7 place management in the articles, make the president the company’s representative and expressly address a legal-person president. The Kbis proves registration; it does not prove that the bank has completed KYC. The bank can request evidence of authority, beneficial ownership, purpose, effective activity and source of funds, and it may refuse an ordinary relationship when its commercial or compliance policy is not satisfied.

The practical remedy is structured evidence. Ask the bank to distinguish a legal requirement from an internal policy or missing document. Keep a genuine president and a real mandate chain. Request the refusal certificate or preserve proof of fifteen days’ silence. If the French company is domiciled in France and has no French deposit account, use Article L. 312-1 to approach the Banque de France for designation of a credit institution. The designated bank must still complete its anti-money-laundering checks, but the company does not need to create a fictitious French-resident director merely to make the file look local.