You have the rental contract for the flat in Lyon, the removal van is booked from Kent, and the estate agent asks for a relevé d’identité bancaire — the slip showing your French bank account details — before handing over the keys. Then the bank says no. For a British citizen settling in France after Brexit, that refusal feels like a wall across every other plan: no account means no salary paid easily, no direct debits for electricity, no local card, and endless paperwork. This guide explains, in plain English with the exact French rules, how a British resident opens a compte de dépôt (everyday current account), what papers the bank is entitled to ask for, what it cannot invent as an excuse, how the droit au compte (right to an account) safety net run through the Banque de France (the French central bank) forces a solution within days, and how to fight a closure once the account is running. Every decisive point is tied to the statute or the court decision that proves it, so you can show the text at the counter rather than argue from memory.

I. Opening a French current account as a British resident after Brexit

A. What the bank may ask a British newcomer for, and what it cannot demand

Start with the good news: living in France gives you the same statutory starting point as a French neighbour. Article L. 312-1 of the Code monétaire et financier (the Monetary and Financial Code, the statute that governs banks and accounts) provides that “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“, and the first category of beneficiaries is “Toute personne physique ou morale domiciliée en France“. In ordinary English: anyone domiciled in France who does not already hold such an account has the right to have one opened in the bank of their choice. A British citizen who has taken a home in France and made it the centre of daily life is domiciled here for this purpose, whether holding a Withdrawal Agreement card, a long-stay visa with a carte de séjour (residence permit), or a freshly stamped passport with a lease and utility bills. Brexit changed your immigration status, not this sentence. The bank cannot tell a British resident that accounts are now reserved for European Union nationals; the text draws no such line among people domiciled in France.

That said, the bank is not obliged to open the account blind. Two duties imposed on every bank explain most of the documents you will be asked to produce, and understanding them helps you prepare a file that leaves no pretext for delay. Under Article L. 561-5 of the same Code, before entering a business relationship banks must “Identifient leur client et, le cas échéant, le bénéficiaire effectif” and “Vérifient ces éléments d’identification sur présentation de tout document écrit à caractère probant“. In practice that means a passport, and for a British applicant often a second proof such as a driving licence or birth certificate, plus proof of the French address: lease, title deed, electricity or telephone bill, or school certificate. Andisclosure. The relationship is then monitored on an ongoing basis, because Article L. 561-6 requires banks to “exercent, dans la limite de leurs droits et obligations, une vigilance constante et pratiquent un examen attentif des opérations effectuées“. Expect questions about the origin of a large first transfer from a United Kingdom account, about your employment or pension, and about the expected use of the account. Those questions are lawful; they come from the anti-money-laundering duties in Articles L. 561-5 and L. 561-6, not from bias against British passports.

What the bank cannot do is add conditions the statute does not contain. It cannot require you to hold a French passport, to have lived in France for a year, to deposit a minimum that the law does not set, or to buy insurance or a savings product as the price of the account. Tying the account to an unwanted product is restricted by the general rules on grouped sales, and the account relationship itself is governed by a written convention de compte de dépôt (account agreement) whose content is regulated: Article L. 312-1-1 of the Monetary and Financial Code sets out what information, charges, modification procedure with two months’ warning, and termination rules that agreement must contain, and requires your signature on it. Read that agreement before signing, and keep a copy on paper or on another lasting medium. If an adviser tells you orally that the account “comes with” insurance, ask for that term in the written agreement; what is not in the agreement cannot be imposed through it. Keep every receipt the bank gives you when you hand over documents, because the six-working-day clock described below runs from the day the bank holds the complete file.

Two practical points specific to British arrivals deserve emphasis. First, where you have just moved and your first French tax return is still ahead of you, the account is the tool that makes the rest of administration possible: salary, pension, rental income and tax payments all flow through it. The firm regularly explains the newcomer sequence — visa, address, account, tax registration — and readers settling this year should read it alongside the companion guide on your first French tax return after moving from the United Kingdom, with Forms 2042, 2047 and 3916, because the account details you obtain now will be the ones you declare and use there. Second, keeping a United Kingdom account after the move does not remove the French right described above — the statute only asks that you hold no such account in France — but the retained United Kingdom account must be declared each year to the French tax administration on the foreign-account form. Failing to declare it brings penalties entirely separate from banking law, so declare first and argue about tax later.

A final detail on language: from this point on, French words appear in italics with a translation at first use, and British spelling is used throughout. An attestation de refus is the written refusal certificate the bank must give you. The Banque de France is the central institution that designates a bank for you when the first bank refuses. Services bancaires de base means the basic banking services the designated bank must supply. Knowing these three labels is enough to navigate the procedure that follows.

B. When the bank says no: the refusal certificate and the Banque de France designation within one working day

A refusal is not the end of the story; in French law it is the trigger of a formal remedy with short deadlines. Article L. 312-1, paragraph III, provides that where the chosen bank refuses, “celle-ci peut saisir la Banque de France afin qu’elle lui désigne un établissement de crédit situé à proximité de son domicile ou d’un autre lieu de son choix“, and that the designation happens “dans un délai d’un jour ouvré à compter de la réception des pièces requises“. In plain terms: you may refer the matter to the Banque de France, which appoints a bank near your home or near any other place you choose, taking market shares into account, within one working day of receiving the required papers. The refusing bank must help you rather than show you the door: it gives you systematically, without delay and on paper, a refusal certificate and tells you that you may ask the Banque de France to appoint a bank, and it must offer, for a private individual, to forward the appointment request and the account-opening information to the Banque de France in your name and for your account. A departmental office, family allowance fund, communal social action centre, accredited consumer association or recognised support foundation may also forward the file for you if you ask. Never leave the branch with only an oral “we cannot help”; insist on the paper attestation de refus (refusal certificate) with the reasons, because without it the one-day clock cannot start and your later challenge loses its simplest proof.

The file to send is deliberately modest: identity, proof of address, the refusal certificate, and a statement that you hold no other deposit account in France. The list of supporting items is set by ministerial order, and the Banque de France branch network publishes it; a passport, a lease or title deed with a recent utility bill, and the certificate are the core in almost every British case seen in practice. If the refusing bank offered to transmit the file and you accepted, ask for written confirmation of transmission with the date. If you transmit it yourself, keep proof of posting or of the online filing. From receipt of the complete file, the Banque de France has one working day to appoint the bank. The appointed bank is then bound: it must offer the holder basic banking services with content and pricing set by decree, and “Ils procèdent à l’ouverture du compte de dépôt dans les trois jours ouvrés à compter de la réception de l’ensemble des pièces qui lui sont nécessaires à cet effet“. Three working days from the complete file, the account is open, governed by a written agreement. In a normal case the whole sequence from refusal to usable account takes about a week.

What the appointed bank must supply is not a favour but a defined package. Article D. 312-5 of the Monetary and Financial Code lists the basic services, which include opening, maintaining and closing the account, one change of address per year, bank identity slips on request, direct debit authorisations, a monthly statement, collection of cheques and transfers, SEPA payments by direct debit, interbank payment order or transfer at the counter or remotely, remote balance checks, cash deposits and withdrawals at the counters and machines of the account-holding institution, and a payment card allowing online payment and cash withdrawal within the European Union. The official wording enumerates: opening and operation, address change, slips, domiciliations, statements, cheque and transfer collection, SEPA instruments, remote balance checks, cash handling, and the card. That card may be a limited-authorisation card rather than a premium card, and there may be no overdraft; the statute promises usability, not prestige. Chequebooks in particular are often refused on designated accounts, and that refusal alone is not unlawful where the basic package is otherwise supplied.

Charges on this track are contained by a second protective article. Article L. 312-1-3 of the Monetary and Financial Code caps the commissions banks may take for irregularities in the operation of an account held by a private individual, per month and per transaction, with specific lower ceilings for holders of the fragility offer and for holders of a basic-services account opened through the Banque de France procedure. Banks must also offer individuals in a fragile position, considering in particular their resources, a specific low-cost package with suitable means of payment and services designed to limit charges when incidents occur. If you live on a small pension or irregular self-employed income, ask expressly whether you qualify for that specific offer; the bank must assess the request rather than ignore it. Keep every statement so that any excess charge can be measured against the ceiling rather than debated in the abstract.

If the Banque de France route stalls — a file said to be incomplete without explanation, or an appointed bank that does not open within three working days — write a dated letter repeating the statutory deadlines back to the institution, enclosing copies of your proofs of filing. The letter should cite the one-day designation rule and the three-day opening rule in the same terms as above, set a short deadline for compliance, and state that you will refer the matter to the banking supervisor and to the court if needed. Most files unblock at this stage because the deadlines leave little room for argument. Where they do not, the written record you have built — refusal certificate, transmission proof, dated reminders — becomes the evidence bundle for the legal challenge described in Part II.

II. Living with the account, and fighting a closure or restriction

A. Basic services in daily life, vulnerable customers, and the family safety net

Once the account is open, daily life in France runs through it to a degree that surprises many British newcomers. Employers pay wages by transfer, landlords expect direct debits, the tax administration collects through the account you nominate, and even the carte Vitale (health insurance card) reimbursements land there. Learn to read the monthly statement line by line: value dates, the relevé d’identité bancaire (bank identity slip) details you give to each payer, and the exact label of every charge. Where a charge looks wrong, compare it with the written agreement required by Article L. 312-1-1 and with the ceilings in Article L. 312-1-3 rather than accepting an oral assurance that “the system calculates it”. Ask for the fee schedule in force on the day of the transaction, in writing, and for the contractual clause that authorises the specific debit. A bank that cannot point to the clause has no basis for the debit.

Households with tight budgets should treat Article L. 312-1-3 as a practical tool, not background law. The text caps irregularity commissions per month and per transaction for private individuals, with tighter ceilings for fragile customers and for basic-service accounts, and obliges banks to propose the specific low-cost offer to individuals whose resources make them fragile. Concretely: if a rejected direct debit triggers a cascade of fees, add up the commissions for that month and for that single incident, compare each total with the ceiling, and write demanding repayment of the excess with the calculation attached. Mention expressly that you claim the specific ceilings applicable to your situation. Banks correct documented excesses far more readily than general complaints about “high charges”, because the ceiling is a number, not an opinion.

British couples should also know the rule that protects the family when an account holder dies, because cross-border estates often stall at the worst moment. Article L. 312-1-4 of the Monetary and Financial Code allows the person entitled to arrange the funeral to obtain, on presentation of the funeral invoice, payment of funeral costs by debiting the deceased’s payment accounts within the credit balance, up to an amount set by ministerial order, and allows any direct-line heir who proves that status to obtain payment for protective steps within the meaning of Article 784 of the Civil Code and closure of certain accounts under conditions set by decree. In ordinary language: the bank cannot simply lock everything until a Franco-British succession that may take a year is finished; funeral and protective expenses can be released on invoices within set limits, and direct-line heirs have defined rights to act. Present the death certificate, proof of kinship, and the invoices together, and ask the bank to identify the order amount and the precise legal ground if it refuses. Where the estate itself concerns a French house, the succession questions that follow — English will, forced heirship, the European Certificate of Succession — are handled in the firm’s companion guides on British wills and Franco-British estates, which should be read next.

Two cautions complete the picture for British users. First, online-only applications sometimes fail identity checks built for French identity cards; a British passport photograph taken in poor light, or an address proof in a spouse’s name only, produces an automated refusal that is really an incomplete file. Reapply at the counter with originals, or add a joint utility bill, council-tax-style housing-tax notice, or attestation from the landlord alongside your passport, and keep the receipt for the complete file. Second, professional use needs a separate analysis: the basic-services account is designed for private needs, and a consultant invoicing clients or a landlord running a furnished-letting business through it may be asked to open a suitable professional account. That request can be legitimate; what remains illegitimate is leaving you with no account at all while the discussion continues.

Finally, remember the continuing vigilance duty that explains why banks ask questions years after opening. Because Article L. 561-6 obliges the bank to monitor consistency between your transactions and what it knows of your situation, a sudden pattern — large cash deposits, rapid transfers to unfamiliar jurisdictions, use of the account for someone else’s business — will trigger documented questions. Answer them in writing with supporting papers: employment contract, pension statement, sale deed, loan offer. Clients who treat these requests as routine correspondence and reply with ordered proof keep full use of their accounts; clients who ignore them drift towards the closure procedure examined next.

B. Closure at the bank’s initiative: two months’ notice, narrow exceptions, and how a British account holder challenges the decision

The ordinary rule on closure protects you strongly. For an account opened for an indefinite period, Article L. 312-1-1 provides that “L’établissement de crédit résilie une convention de compte de dépôt conclue pour une durée indéterminée moyennant un préavis d’au moins deux mois, fourni sur support papier ou sur un autre support durable“. The bank ends the open-ended agreement with at least two months’ notice given on paper or another lasting medium. You may close at any time with at most thirty days’ notice, and without charge after six months; the bank must give you at least two months. A letter that closes the account “with immediate effect” without invoking one of the narrow statutory exceptions is therefore irregular on its face. Check three things on any closure letter: the date, the stated start of the notice period, and the medium. A closure announced by telephone, or by a message that vanishes from an application without a durable copy, does not satisfy the paper-or-lasting-medium requirement. Write back at once, pointing out the missing notice and asking for written confirmation that the account remains open during the two-month period, so that salary, pension and direct debits continue to operate.

The courts enforce the notice rule but require the customer to prove actual loss. In a Montpellier appeal decision of 4 November 2025, case number 24/04741, available on the official judiciary portal at https://www.courdecassation.fr/decision/690aee6c28bf9d42b6cc12a0, the court recalled that “Selon l’article L312-1-1 V du code monétaire et financier, l’établissement de crédit résilie une convention de compte de dépôt conclue pour une durée indéterminée moyennant un préavis d’au moins deux mois, fourni sur support papier ou sur un autre support durable“, found that the bank had not shown it gave that notice, yet rejected the damages claim because the company produced no document proving the reality of the alleged harm, such as the transfer said to have restored the debit balance, the effect of the closure on identified contracts with customers and suppliers, or the causal link with the claimed cessation of activity. The lesson for a British claimant is direct: the missing notice establishes the fault, but compensation requires a quantified file — declined salary credit, rejected direct debit with penalty, replacement borrowing cost, correspondence showing a lost letting or contract — each tied by date to the closure period. Build that file from the first day: keep the closure letter, the statements showing the balance and the rejected items, the penalty notices, and any letter from an employer, landlord or supplier attributing a concrete consequence to the closure.

Designated basic-service accounts have their own closure regime with narrower room for the bank but sharper exceptions. The leading decision is the Court of Cassation, Commercial, Financial and Economic Chamber, 30 June 2021, appeal number 19-14.313, published on the official portal at https://www.courdecassation.fr/decision/60dd5a833890147026238e8a. After a bank designated by the Banque de France closed the account without notice for alleged atypical operation, the Court held that “Il résulte de ce texte que l’établissement de crédit peut résilier unilatéralement la convention de compte assorti des services bancaires de base, ouvert en application du droit au compte, lorsque le client a délibérément utilisé son compte pour des opérations que l’organisme a des raisons de soupçonner comme poursuivant des fins illégales, auquel cas il est dispensé de lui accorder un préavis“. It added that “Constitue une utilisation délibérée du compte, au sens de ce texte, le fait, pour son titulaire, d’en communiquer les coordonnées à un cocontractant afin qu’il effectue un paiement par virement sur ce compte“. In that case the Court quashed the appeal ruling that had ordered the account maintained, holding that the lower court had not given a legal basis for excluding deliberate use where the holder had passed its bank details to an Iranian business partner for payment through an undisclosed Chinese intermediary. For a British reader the message is twofold. The bank cannot close a designated account on a vague feeling; it must point to deliberate use for operations it has reasons to suspect pursue unlawful aims, and without that it owes the notice period. But the customer must also behave strictly: never lend the account, never pass its details for another person’s transaction, never accept to receive funds you cannot document, and answer vigilance questions with papers before the bank concludes it has reasons for suspicion.

Where closure has been imposed without the required notice and without a documented unlawful-purpose ground, the challenge follows a steady escalation. First, send a recorded letter to the bank’s complaints department recalling the two-month rule, enclosing the closure letter and asking for reinstatement during the notice period or, if the bank maintains a lawful ground, for the precise facts and documents supporting it. Second, refer to the bank’s mediator (médiateur bancaire, the independent ombudsman each bank appoints), whose details appear in the account agreement and on statements; mediation is without charge for the customer and produces a reasoned proposal within months. Third, for a designated account, alert the Banque de France branch that appointed the bank, with the full chronology. Fourth, apply to the court: the juge des référés (urgent-applications judge) can order the account maintained where the closure is manifestly unlawful, as happened at first instance in the 2021 case before the higher courts refined the analysis, and the trial court can award damages for proven loss and order regular operation under penalty. At each stage, the bundle is the same: agreement, statements, closure letter, your dated replies, proof of the lawful origin of the questioned funds, and the quantified loss schedule in the Montpellier spirit. British residents who split time between countries should add travel and address proof showing French domicile, so that no argument about “no longer resident” distracts from the notice point.

One closing warning concerns conduct while the dispute runs. Continue to operate strictly within the agreement: do not create an unauthorised overdraft to force the bank’s hand, do not direct third parties to pay into an account under challenge, and do not close the account yourself in anger before the notice point is decided, because voluntary closure weakens the claim for reinstatement. Pay essential direct debits from a temporary second channel only after recording in writing why the original account cannot be used, and keep every receipt. Courts compensate documented loss, not frustration, and the customer who arrives with an ordered file — fault proved by the missing notice, loss proved euro by euro — stands where the Montpellier claimant failed to stand.

Where it is not the French bank but your British bank that is closing the account because you now live in France, the remedy path starts on the other side of the Channel: see what to do when your United Kingdom bank closes your account and the French bank says no and how to open a French account when your United Kingdom bank is closing your account because you live in France.

Conclusion

A French bank account is the keystone of a British move to France, and French law treats it as such. A British person domiciled in France holds the statutory right to an account in the bank of their choice; the bank may verify identity and monitor transactions under Articles L. 561-5 and L. 561-6, but it may not invent nationality or seniority conditions. A refusal triggers the refusal certificate and the Banque de France appointment within one working day, with opening within three working days on the defined basic-services package and capped charges. Once open, the account agreement governs, with its two-month closure notice as the default and immediate termination confined to documented deliberate misuse for suspected unlawful operations, as the Court of Cassation defined it in June 2021. The Montpellier lesson completes the toolkit: missing notice is a fault, yet only a quantified, dated, receipt-backed loss becomes damages. Prepare the file at opening, answer vigilance questions with papers, demand every decision in writing, and challenge refusals and closures through complaints, mediation, the Banque de France and the court in that order. The system is built to leave no resident without an account; used methodically, it leaves no British resident without one either.