You open the post in your Dordogne farmhouse and find a registered letter from your French bank: your current account will be closed in two months, no reason given, please make arrangements. Or you walk into a branch in Paris with your passport, your lease and your deposit, and the adviser tells you the bank will not open an account for a British citizen. Since Brexit turned British citizens into third-country nationals in France, both scenes have become familiar, and both feel like a wall across daily life: no account means no salary paid, no direct debits for electricity or tax, no card for everyday shopping. French law, however, does not leave you without an answer. It gives every person domiciled in France a statutory right to an account, called the droit au compte (the right to an account), enforced by the Banque de France (the French central bank), which can designate a bank and order it to open an account for you within days. Every French legal term in this guide is explained the first time it appears, and every decisive statement is linked to its official text so you can verify it yourself. Part I explains why a French bank may lawfully close your account or refuse a new one, and what documents you must secure on the spot. Part II is strictly practical: how to file your droit au compte application, what the designated bank owes you, and how to challenge a closure or a refusal before the banking mediator, the supervisor and the courts.

I. Why Your French Bank Can Close Your Account or Refuse a New One After Brexit

A. Your Bank Closed Your Existing Account: the Two-Month Notice Rule and the Reasons It May Keep to Itself

Start with the ordinary case: you already hold a French deposit account and the bank decides to end the relationship. For an account opened for an indefinite period, which is the standard position, the bank may terminate but it must give you advance warning. The rule is stated in Article L. 312-1-1 of the Monetary and Financial Code (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.” In plain English, the bank ends an open-ended deposit account agreement (convention de compte de dépôt) only with at least two months’ notice given on paper or another durable medium. A letter giving you six weeks, a telephone call, or a message buried in your online banking inbox does not satisfy this requirement. Keep the envelope, the registered-letter slip and the letter itself: the date you received it is the starting point of every later calculation.

Where the closed account was itself opened under the droit au compte procedure described in Part II, the protection is even more detailed. The statute provides that “Un délai minimum de deux mois de préavis est octroyé au titulaire du compte, sauf dans les cas mentionnés au 1° et au 2°.” (Article L. 312-1 of the Monetary and Financial Code, Légifrance). The two exceptions concern a customer who deliberately used the account for transactions the bank has reason to suspect of illegal purposes, or who supplied inaccurate information. Outside those two cases, the bank must also put its decision in writing: “Toute résiliation à l’initiative de l’établissement de crédit fait l’objet d’un courrier sur support papier, envoyé gratuitement au client.” And that letter must tell you where to complain: “L’établissement informe le client, dans son courrier de résiliation, de l’existence d’un service de relations avec la clientèle et de la médiation pour traiter les litiges éventuels liés à la résiliation de la convention de compte de dépôt.” So a compliant closure letter always contains three things: the two-month notice period, the customer-relations contact, and the details of the banking mediator (médiateur bancaire, the independent ombudsman who examines disputes between a customer and a bank). If your letter lacks any of the three, note the gap in writing at once.

The uncomfortable part is that, once notice is properly given, the bank generally does not have to explain itself. The Paris Court of Appeal confirmed this in a closure dispute decided on 10 May 2023 (RG 22/05206), holding that “les établissements de crédit ont la faculté discrétionnaire de résilier une convention de compte de dépôt souscrite, comme en l’espèce, pour une durée indéterminée moyennant un préavis d’au moins deux mois fourni sur support papier” (Paris Court of Appeal, Pôle 5, chamber 6, 10 May 2023, RG 22/05206). In the same ruling the court added that, provided the statutory notice is respected, “la banque n’était pas tenue de motiver sa décision qui pouvait être légalement prise de manière discrétionnaire”. A customer who wants the closure punished as an abuse must prove it, and the court recalled that bad faith or an intent to harm on the bank’s side has to be demonstrated by the claimant. In that case the customer failed to do so and the first-instance dismissal of all his claims was confirmed in full. The practical lesson for a British account holder is blunt: do not spend your energy demanding a reason the bank is entitled to withhold. Spend it checking that the notice, the two-month period and the mediation information are all present, because a missing notice is the far stronger weapon.

Behind many unexplained closures lies a reason the bank will not put in writing: anti-money-laundering vigilance. Before entering or pursuing a business relationship, banks must identify their customer and verify that identity from probative written documents: “1° Identifient leur client et, le cas échéant, le bénéficiaire effectif au sens de l’article L. 561-2-2 ; 2° Vérifient ces éléments d’identification sur présentation de tout document écrit à caractère probant.” (Article L. 561-5 of the Monetary and Financial Code, Légifrance). And where the bank cannot satisfy these duties, the statute is categorical: “elle n’exécute aucune opération, quelles qu’en soient les modalités, n’établit ni ne poursuit aucune relation d’affaires et peut transmettre la déclaration prévue à l’article L. 561-15 dans les conditions prévues à cet article.” (Article L. 561-8 of the Monetary and Financial Code, Légifrance). A large transfer from a British sale of shares, a cheque from a London solicitor after a conveyance, rental income arriving from a UK letting agent, or simply an expired passport the branch never asked you to renew, can each trigger an internal review that ends, months later, in a closure letter. If the bank asks you for the origin of funds, for an updated passport, or for proof of your French address, treat the request as urgent and answer it in writing with documents attached. Silence during a vigilance review is the most common path from a routine account to a registered letter.

The day the closure letter arrives, build your file the same day. Keep the letter and its envelope, photograph the online-banking notice if one appeared, download twelve months of statements, note the exact date the account stops operating, redirect your direct debits and salary in writing, and ask the bank in writing for confirmation of the transferred balance and the closure date. If the notice period is shorter than two months, say so in your reply and keep a copy. If debits continue after the announced closure date, or the balance transfer is delayed, log each incident with dates and screenshots. This bundle is what the mediator and, if needed, the court will read first.

B. A French Bank Refused to Open Your Account: the Refusal Certificate You Must Demand on the Spot

The second scene is the refusal at account opening. No French bank is obliged to accept every applicant at its counter: outside the droit au compte procedure, a bank may say no to a new customer. For British citizens since Brexit, refusals often come dressed in practical excuses, the branch only opens accounts for residents, the compliance department does not take on third-country nationals, your file would need approval from a regional office that never answers. Some of these statements describe genuine internal policy, others are simply a brush-off. Either way, your response is the same, because the law converts every refusal into the starting document of your remedy.

A bank that refuses to open an account must give you written proof of that refusal, immediately, systematically and at no cost. The statute states: “L’établissement de crédit qui a refusé l’ouverture d’un compte fournit au demandeur systématiquement, gratuitement et sans délai, sur support papier, et sur un autre support durable lorsque celui-ci en fait la demande expresse, une attestation de refus d’ouverture de compte et l’informe qu’il peut demander à la Banque de France de lui désigner un établissement de crédit pour lui ouvrir un compte.” (Article L. 312-1 of the Monetary and Financial Code, Légifrance). The attestation de refus d’ouverture de compte (the certificate recording the refusal to open an account) is therefore not a favour you request politely. It is a document the bank owes you on the spot, on paper, together with information about your right to apply to the Banque de France. If the adviser claims never to have heard of it, ask for the branch manager, put your request in writing before leaving, and send the same request by email the same day so the date is beyond dispute.

Two points about eligibility need to be clear before you file anything. First, the droit au compte belongs to persons domiciled in France who hold no deposit account here. The statute opens with the principle: “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” (Article L. 312-1 of the Monetary and Financial Code, Légifrance), and the first category of beneficiaries is “Toute personne physique ou morale domiciliée en France”. A British citizen living in France under a Withdrawal Agreement residence permit, a long-stay visa or a carte de séjour (the French residence permit) therefore qualifies in exactly the same way as a French national: nationality plays no part where domicile in France is established, and the applicable visa routes are summarised in our newcomer guide for British newcomers applying for a French long-stay visa and residence permit. Second, holding a joint account does not block you: the statute expressly preserves the right to an individual account alongside a collective one. By contrast, a British second-home owner who lives in the United Kingdom and merely holidays in France will generally fall outside the procedure and must persuade a bank to open an account as a matter of commercial policy, which is a negotiation rather than a right.

If the bank will not hand over the refusal certificate, do not accept a verbal no as the end of the story. Write to the branch by recorded-delivery letter (lettre recommandée avec accusé de réception, the tracked postal service that proves dispatch and delivery) summarising the date, the adviser and the refusal, and demand the certificate within eight days. Keep the delivery slip. An application to the Banque de France can still be filed with your own written account of the refusal and the delivery proof, and a file showing that you asked twice carries far more weight than a bare allegation. Note also that the bank itself may offer to forward your designation request to the Banque de France on your behalf: the statute invites it to propose this service to individuals, and accepting the offer costs you nothing while creating a paper trail inside the bank.

II. How to Force a French Account Open and Challenge the Closure or Refusal

A. Seizing the Banque de France: Your Droit au Compte File, the Deadlines and the Designated Bank

Once you hold the refusal certificate, or proof that you asked for it, the procedure moves to the Banque de France and it moves fast. You file a designation request with the departmental branch covering your home, in person, by post or through the online procedure presented on the public service information page for refusal to open a bank account and the droit au compte (service-public.fr). Your file contains three things: valid identification, proof of your French domicile such as a lease, utility bill or residence permit, and the refusal certificate or your documented account of the refusal. The statute sets the pace for what follows: the central bank designates a bank near your home or another place of your choice, taking market shares into account, within one business day of receiving the required documents. One business day is not an administrative slogan; it is the statutory time limit, and it makes this procedure one of the fastest in French consumer law.

The bank so designated has no discretion left. It must open the account within three business days of receiving all the documents it needs: “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.” (Article L. 312-1 of the Monetary and Financial Code, Légifrance). The courts apply this strictly. The Versailles Court of Appeal held on 21 December 2023 (RG 22/05426) that “L’établissement bancaire désigné par la Banque de France est tenu d’ouvrir un compte de dépôt au demandeur revendiquant son droit au compte et ce, dans les trois jours de la réception des pièces nécessaires à cet effet.” (Versailles Court of Appeal, 16th chamber, 21 December 2023, RG 22/05426). In the same ruling the court recalled the foundation of the whole mechanism: “L’article L 312-1 du code monétaire et financier énonce le principe du droit à l’ouverture d’un compte de dépôt pour toute personne physique ou morale domiciliée en France dans un établissement de crédit de son choix.” A designated bank that stalls, asks for documents beyond what is reasonably necessary, or quietly refuses to activate the account is therefore not exercising commercial freedom. It is failing a statutory duty, and every day of delay should be recorded in writing.

What the designated bank must provide is the package of basic banking services (services bancaires de base, the legally defined minimum account package), whose content is fixed by decree rather than left to the bank. The list opens with account opening, maintenance and closure, one change of address per year, bank identity statements on request, direct-debit facilities, a monthly statement of transactions, cheque and transfer deposits, SEPA payments, remote balance consultation, cash deposits and withdrawals, and a payment card suitable for internet purchases and cash withdrawals across the European Union: “Les prestations de base mentionnées au II de l’article L. 312-1 comprennent : 1° L’ouverture, la tenue et la clôture du compte” (Article D. 312-5 of the Monetary and Financial Code, Légifrance), followed by the nine further items in the same article. Expect a functional everyday account, not a premium one: there may be no overdraft facility and no chequebook, but salary, transfers, direct debits, card payments and withdrawals must all work. The relationship is governed by a written account agreement, and the pricing of these basic services is regulated, so compare the tariff pages before signing and keep a copy of the signed agreement with your file.

Two protections in the case law deserve emphasis because banks sometimes test them. First, a designated bank may not use your banking history as a fresh ground for refusal. In the Versailles ruling cited above, the court held that the designated bank could not lawfully hide behind the closure of an earlier account, even where unpaid debts remained on it. The designation wipes that slate for account-opening purposes: old arrears may still be pursued through ordinary recovery, but they do not authorise a second refusal. Second, once the designated account is running, it can only be closed on the narrow grounds and with the two-month notice, written reasons and mediation information described in Part I. If the designated bank threatens closure, demand the registered letter, check the notice period, and treat any pressure to leave voluntarily as a matter for the mediator. The procedure that forced the door open also holds it open.

File management decides these cases more often than legal argument. Keep one chronological bundle: the refusal certificate, your designation request and its receipt, the designation decision, every document sent to the designated bank with dates, the signed account agreement, and a log of any delay with screenshots of missing transfers or refused card payments. Where a deadline is missed, complain in writing the same day and keep the reply. A complete bundle usually resolves the file at the complaint stage; a scattered file turns a three-day statutory duty into months of correspondence.

B. Challenging the Closure or the Refusal: the Banking Mediator, the Supervisor and the Courts

Where the account is closed without proper notice, where the refusal certificate is withheld, or where the designated bank drags its feet, three remedies stand behind the procedure, in rising order of formality. The first is the banking mediator. Every consumer is entitled to bring a dispute with a bank before an independent mediator, and the designated closure letter must already point you to this route (Article L. 316-1 of the Monetary and Financial Code, Légifrance). But the mediator will only examine a file that has first gone through the bank’s own complaints channel. Consumer law bars mediation where “Le consommateur ne justifie pas avoir tenté, au préalable, de résoudre son litige directement auprès du professionnel par une réclamation écrite selon les modalités prévues, le cas échéant, dans le contrat” (Article L. 612-2 of the Consumer Code (Code de la consommation), Légifrance). In practice, write first to the bank’s customer-relations department by recorded delivery, setting out the facts, the rule breached and what you seek, then seize the mediator named in the bank’s documentation if the answer is unsatisfactory or never comes. A mediation request filed within one year of that written complaint is admissible; beyond that year the door closes, so diary the date. Mediation is conducted in writing, it costs the consumer nothing beyond postage and copies, and its written opinion, though not a judgment, regularly secures reopening of the account, correction of the notice or compensation for proven loss.

The second route is the supervisor. The Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution (the Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority, the French banking supervisor) monitors compliance with the banking-accessibility charter that every bank must follow under the droit au compte provisions, including the model refusal certificate and the transmission deadlines to the Banque de France. A complaint to the supervisor will not award you damages, but it creates a regulatory record of a bank that withholds refusal certificates, ignores designations or closes designated accounts without the statutory letter. Mention in your complaint the exact dates, the branch, the names of the documents withheld and copies of your recorded-delivery letters. Supervisory attention rarely arrives in the first file, but a documented pattern changes the bank’s calculations in the second.

The third route is the court, and here the Paris ruling of 10 May 2023 sets the honest framework for your chances. A closure with proper two-month notice and no proven abuse will be upheld, even where the customer suspects hidden motives: the court confirmed the dismissal of all claims where notice had been respected and bad faith was not demonstrated. Conversely, a closure without the statutory notice, a refusal certificate never delivered despite written demands, or a designated bank that will not open the account within three business days are breaches a court can sanction with damages for the proven loss, from bank charges and the cost of emergency arrangements to the wider disruption of a blocked household budget. Bring the chronological bundle described above, quantify each head of loss with documents rather than estimates, and ask for the notice defect to be addressed first: it is the point on which judges decide these files fastest. Claims are brought before the judicial court (tribunal judiciaire, the ordinary civil court), and while representation by an avocat (a member of the French Bar) is not required for smaller claims, the bank will always be represented, so take advice before issuing proceedings.

One final caution for British readers concerns proof of identity and address, the two points on which files most often stall. French banks must verify identity from probative documents, and a British passport remains fully valid for this purpose, but it must be in date and the name must match every other document exactly, including accents, hyphens and middle names as transcribed on your residence permit. Proof of domicile must show your French address and be recent, typically less than three months old: electricity or gas bills, the lease, home insurance or the local tax notice all qualify, while a British driving licence or a bank statement from the United Kingdom does not prove French domicile. Where the bank queries a document, answer within days with a replacement rather than debating the point for weeks. And where the real difficulty is a vigilance freeze linked to a large British transfer, supply the source documents at once, the completion statement from the British solicitor, the estate agent’s invoice, the probate papers, because the file the bank closes for silence is often the file it would have kept had the documents arrived in time.

Conclusion

A British citizen in France who loses banking services is not dependent on commercial goodwill. The rules work as a stack in a fixed order. First, an existing account can only be closed with at least two months’ written notice, and a designated droit au compte account only by registered letter stating the reasons, save for the two statutory exceptions, with customer-relations and mediation details enclosed. Second, a bank that refuses a new account owes you the refusal certificate systematically, without charge and without delay, together with information about the Banque de France designation. Third, the central bank designates a bank within one business day, and that bank must open a basic-services account within three business days, regardless of your earlier banking history. Fourth, disputes run through the written complaint, the banking mediator within a year of that complaint, the supervisor for charter breaches, and the court where notice was ignored or loss was suffered, with the Paris and Versailles rulings showing judges enforcing the notice and the three-day duty strictly while refusing to second-guess a properly notified discretionary closure. Keep the refusal certificate or the closure letter, file promptly, answer vigilance requests with documents rather than arguments, and log every deadline in a single bundle. Handled in that order, the registered letter that opened this guide becomes a short administrative procedure instead of a threat to daily life.