You live in London, New York, Dubai or Singapore. Your French société par actions simplifiée (SAS, the flexible joint-stock company most foreign founders choose) is ready: the draft articles of association (statuts) are signed, the registered office (siège social) is fixed, and the cash for the share capital is waiting on your personal account. Then the French bank answers: no. No corporate account, no capital-deposit certificate, sometimes no reason beyond a polite formula about the bank’s approval policy. The whole project freezes, because without that certificate the company cannot be registered, and without registration there is no Kbis — the official extract issued by the greffe (the clerk’s office of the commercial court) that proves your company legally exists. This article explains why French banks refuse foreign-held files, which refusals are lawful and which are not, and the exact remedy French law gives you when you live abroad: the droit au compte (right to an account) before the Banque de France (the French central bank). If you are still hesitating between vehicles, read first our guide on choosing between an SAS, a SARL, a branch and a subsidiary in France as a foreign company, then come back here for the banking battle plan.

I. Why did the bank refuse your French company’s account when you live abroad?

A. What checks sit behind every refusal: identity, beneficial owners and business purpose

A French bank that opens an account is not doing you a favour; it is entering a regulated relationship under anti-money-laundering law, and the penalties for getting it wrong fall on the bank. That is the first thing to understand: most refusals served on foreign founders are not personal, they are the visible part of three legal checks the bank must run before touching your money. Before entering into a business relationship, the persons covered by the regime must, in the words of the statute, “Identifient leur client et, le cas échéant, le bénéficiaire effectif au sens de l’article L. 561-2-2” and “Vérifient ces éléments d’identification sur présentation de tout document écrit à caractère probant” (Article L561-5 of the Monetary and Financial Code). In plain English: identify the client and, where relevant, the beneficial owner, and verify those identities against written documentary evidence. When you live abroad, each of these steps is harder, slower and more expensive for the bank, and files that look simple from your side often look risky from theirs.

The second check concerns the person behind the company. French law defines the beneficial owner — the bénéficiaire effectif, the human being declared to the Register of Beneficial Owners (RBE, Registre des bénéficiaires effectifs) — as follows: “le bénéficiaire effectif est la ou les personnes physiques : 1° Soit qui contrôlent en dernier lieu, directement ou indirectement, le client ; 2° Soit pour laquelle une opération est exécutée ou une activité exercée” (Article L561-2-2 of the Monetary and Financial Code). If your holding chain runs through a Delaware LLC, a UAE low-tax-zone company or a trust, the bank must trace the chain to the natural person at the end of it, and it must keep that knowledge current: the statute adds that covered persons must gather “les informations relatives à l’objet et à la nature de cette relation et tout autre élément d’information pertinent” and update them throughout the relationship (Article L561-5-1 of the Monetary and Financial Code), then exercise “une vigilance constante et pratiquent un examen attentif des opérations effectuées en veillant à ce qu’elles soient cohérentes avec la connaissance actualisée qu’elles ont de leur relation d’affaires” (Article L561-6 of the Monetary and Financial Code). A founder who cannot produce a clear group chart, proof of the origin of funds and a credible description of the French activity gives the bank exactly the profile its compliance department is trained to decline.

The third check is the hardest one for the bank to pass when the client cannot walk into the branch: if the bank cannot satisfy the identification duties, the law orders it to stop. The rule states that where a covered person “n’est pas en mesure de satisfaire aux obligations prévues à l’article L. 561-5 ou à l’article L. 561-5-1, elle n’exécute aucune opération, quelles qu’en soient les modalités, n’établit ni ne poursuit aucune relation d’affaires” (Article L561-8 of the Monetary and Financial Code). Remote identification from abroad, foreign-language company documents without certified translation, a passport the adviser cannot verify in person, a beneficial-owner declaration that does not match the draft statuts: any of these can push the file into this dead end, lawfully. United States citizens and residents face an extra layer, because the bank must also process the American tax-compliance paperwork (FATCA) and many small branches simply refuse that workload. None of this means the refusal is the end of the road — France created a public remedy precisely for this situation — but it means your first reaction should be documentary, not emotional: ask what is missing, supply it, and secure the written refusal you will need next.

In practice, a foreign-held file that gets opened quickly always contains the same pieces: a passport valid well beyond the year, proof of address abroad less than three months old with a certified French translation, the full draft statuts showing the capital, the list of subscribers and their contributions, a group chart down to the natural person with percentages, bank statements or sale deeds proving the origin of the capital, a one-page business plan stating what the French company will actually do, where, with whom and for how much, and the lease or domiciliation contract for the siège social. Companies whose activity is regulated — finance, payment services, crypto-assets, gambling, defence — should add the authorisation file or at least the filing receipt, because the bank will ask. Send this bundle before anyone travels: a complete file reviewed remotely costs the bank far less than a half-empty file carried into a Paris branch by a founder who flew in for the day.

B. Two different accounts, two different refusals: the capital-deposit certificate and the operating account

Foreign founders constantly confuse two bank products that French law treats separately, and banks refuse them for different reasons. The first is the blocked capital account (compte de dépôt des fonds): before registration, the cash contributions must be deposited with a bank, a notary (notaire) or the Caisse des dépôts, which issues the certificate (certificat du dépositaire, also called attestation de dépôt des fonds) that the formation file requires. The statute provides that “Les versements sont constatés par un certificat du dépositaire établi, au moment du dépôt des fonds, sur présentation de la liste des actionnaires mentionnant les sommes versées par chacun d’eux” (Article L225-13 of the Commercial Code, applicable to the SAS through Article L227-1 of the Commercial Code). For the SARL (the limited-liability company with tightly controlled share transfers), the twin rule is that “Les parts sociales doivent être souscrites en totalité par les associés” and “Les fonds provenant de la libération des parts sociales sont déposés dans les conditions et délais déterminés par décret en Conseil d’Etat” (Article L223-7 of the Commercial Code). Without this certificate, the Guichet unique (the single online company-registration portal run for the State, technically backed by the INPI, the French intellectual-property and companies institute) will not forward a complete file, and the greffe will not register the company. A refusal at this stage is therefore a refusal to let your company be born.

The second product is the ordinary operating account (compte courant professionnel) used to invoice, pay salaries and social charges to URSSAF (the body that collects employer and employee social-security contributions), and pay VAT. A bank may accept the capital deposit and still refuse the operating account, or the reverse: accept the operating relationship once the Kbis exists but decline the blocked-funds certificate for a non-resident because its branch no longer handles that product. Each refusal must be documented separately, because the remedy described below attaches to each refused deposit account individually. Ask for two letters if both products were refused, and check the wording: a letter that says the branch “does not open accounts for non-residents” without examining your file is weaker, in any later discussion with the Banque de France, than a letter that lists the missing documents. Either way, keep the originals and every proof of sending.

Why does the distinction matter for your liability? Because before registration the company does not exist as a person, yet business does not wait: leases get signed, suppliers get ordered, the capital sits somewhere. French law is blunt on this point: “Les sociétés commerciales jouissent de la personnalité morale à dater de leur immatriculation au registre du commerce et des sociétés” (Article L210-6 of the Commercial Code), and anyone who acted beforehand stays personally on the hook unless the company, once registered, takes over (“reprend”) the commitment. The Court of Cassation confirmed the mechanism in a published ruling whose reasoning every founder acting from abroad should read: “Il résulte des articles L. 210-6 et R. 210-6 du code de commerce que les sociétés commerciales jouissent de la personnalité morale à dater de leur immatriculation au registre du commerce et des sociétés. Les personnes qui ont agi au nom ou pour le compte d’une société en formation avant qu’elle ait acquis la jouissance de la personnalité morale sont tenues solidairement et indéfiniment responsables des actes ainsi accomplis, à moins que la société, après avoir être régulièrement constituée et immatriculée, ne reprenne les engagements souscrits. Ces engagements sont alors réputés avoir été souscrits dès l’origine par la société” (Court of Cassation, Commercial Chamber, 29 November 2023, appeal no. 22-21.623, published in the Bulletin). Concretely: every contract you sign “for the company being formed” while the bank blocks you remains your personal debt until the registered company formally takes it over. That is why the blocked-account phase must be kept short, and why the takeover clause (clause de reprise des actes accomplis pour le compte de la société en formation) belongs in your draft statuts from day one, listing each pre-registration act by date and counterparty.

A final trap at this stage: paying the capital into the wrong hands. Funds handed to an intermediary, a “facilitator” or a foreign account that is not the statutory depositary buy you nothing and expose you to fraud. The deposit must sit with a French depositary that issues the statutory certificate, and the certificate must name each subscriber and the amount paid by each. If a bank refuses the deposit, do not reroute the money informally; get the written refusal and move to the remedy below, or switch depositary to a notary, who performs the same legal function and is often more accessible to non-resident founders with complete files.

II. How do you force an account open from abroad: the French droit au compte, step by step

A. Who qualifies, which papers win, and the deadlines that bind the banks and the Banque de France

The droit au compte is a public procedure under which the Banque de France designates a bank that is then obliged to open you a deposit account with basic services. The statute opens the right in these terms: “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” (Article L312-1 of the Monetary and Financial Code). Three conditions follow for your company: it must be domiciled in France (the siège social stated in the draft statuts counts), it must hold no deposit account in France yet, and it must prove a refusal. A company being formed with a French registered office meets the domicile condition; a foreign company with no French presence does not, which is why this remedy belongs to the French-formation track and not to the pure cross-border track. The same article adds the engine of the procedure: in case of refusal, the applicant may seize the Banque de France so that it designates a bank “dans un délai d’un jour ouvré à compter de la réception des pièces requises définies par arrêté” — within one business day of receiving the required documents.

The official business-owners’ portal describes the professional track in detail and should be your checklist alongside this article (Refus d’ouverture d’un compte bancaire professionnel : droits et recours — Entreprendre.Service-Public.fr). The sequence matters. First, send a written account-opening request to the bank of your choice and keep the proof: registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt (lettre recommandée avec accusé de réception) or hand delivery against a stamped receipt. Second, if the bank refuses, it must give you a written refusal certificate (attestation de refus): the portal states that on refusal the bank must supply this certificate within fifteen days of the acknowledgment date or of the hand-delivery date, that the certificate must mention the possibility of going to the Banque de France, and that after fifteen days without any answer the proof of sending plus the fifteen-day silence counts as the refusal. Third, file with the Banque de France: the company’s file contains the refusal certificate (or the proof of the unanswered request), a sworn statement (déclaration sur l’honneur) by the legal representative that the company holds no deposit account in its name, the identity documents of the representative, the draft statuts or the Kbis if the company is already registered, and the standard application form. The filing can be made at a Banque de France branch counter or online through the Banque de France personal space, which is the practical route when you live abroad and hold a French representative or a lawyer with a mandate.

Two timing points decide most cases. The fifteen-day rule for the refusal certificate runs against the bank, not against you: once you hold the certificate, or once fifteen days have passed since your proven request without an account, you may file immediately. The one-business-day rule then runs against the Banque de France for the designation, counting from receipt of the complete file — which is why completeness is everything. An incomplete file does not trigger the one-day clock; it triggers a request for missing pieces while your capital stays blocked and your suppliers wait. Founders living abroad lose most often on three missing items: the sworn statement of no account signed by the legal representative (not by an adviser), the proof that the refused request was made in the company’s name and not in the founder’s personal name, and a French-language version of foreign identity and company documents. Prepare those three before anything else, and the procedure does what the statute promises.

Geography also matters. The designation takes into account the market shares of the banks and the location you indicate: you may name a place of your choice, so a founder who will operate from Paris should say so and attach the Paris lease or domiciliation contract, because the designated branch will usually sit near that address. Practical Paris note: if your siège social is in Paris or the inner suburbs (Île-de-France, the Paris region), file with that address stated consistently everywhere — statuts, domiciliation contract, Banque de France form — since any mismatch between documents is the most common reason a file is sent back for completion. The competent commercial-court clerk for your later registration will be the greffe of the Paris Commercial Court for a Paris seat, and the designated bank will expect to see that same seat on your papers.

B. What the designated bank must give you, what it may still refuse, and how to run the company until the Kbis arrives

Designation is not a blank cheque; it is an order to open a deposit account with a defined basket of basic services (prestations de base). That basket is set by regulation and covers: “L’ouverture, la tenue et la clôture du compte”, one change of address per year, bank-identity statements (relevés d’identité bancaire, RIB) on request, direct-debit domiciliation, a monthly statement of transactions, cashing cheques and transfers, SEPA payments, remote balance consultation, cash deposits and withdrawals at the account-holding bank’s counters or cash machines, and a payment card usable for online payments and cash withdrawals in the European Union (Article D312-5 of the Monetary and Financial Code). No overdraft, no chequebook beyond the legal minimum, no foreign-currency credit line: the designated account is a clean payment rail, which is exactly what a young foreign-held company needs to invoice, pay URSSAF and the tax office, and release the blocked capital after registration.

The designated bank keeps one lawful exit: anti-money-laundering duties survive designation. The statute is explicit that the freeze rule “s’applique également lorsqu’un établissement de crédit a été désigné par la Banque de France sur le fondement de l’article L. 312-1 et que l’établissement n’a pas pu satisfaire à l’une des obligations prévues à l’article L. 561-5 ou à l’article L. 561-5-1” (Article L561-8, II, of the Monetary and Financial Code). In other words, if your identification file is so incomplete or so opaque that the bank cannot lawfully identify you, it may still decline — and a second designation round will fail for the same reason. Founders sometimes read designation as victory and stop cooperating; the opposite is true. Answer the designated bank’s compliance questions within days, keep the same representative and the same documents as in the Banque de France file, and do not change the shareholder structure mid-procedure unless you refile consistently. A refusal by a designated bank is rare on a clean file and almost systematic on a file whose beneficial owner cannot be evidenced.

Between designation and the Kbis, run a tight interim discipline. The formation file goes through the single portal — “toute entreprise se conforme à l’obligation de déclarer sa création” through “le dépôt d’un seul dossier”, and “Ce dossier est déposé par voie électronique auprès d’un organisme unique désigné à cet effet” (Article L123-33 of the Commercial Code), whose contents and attachments are detailed by regulation (Article R123-3 of the Commercial Code). File only when the deposit certificate is in hand; a file without it will stall. Until registration, sign nothing without the “for the company being formed” formula and the takeover clause, keep every pre-registration commitment in a dated schedule annexed to the statuts, and do not let the blocked capital move. Once the Kbis is issued — remember that only the court clerks may deliver these extracts, since “Les greffiers sont astreints et seuls habilités à délivrer à toute personne qui en fait la demande des certificats, copies ou extraits des inscriptions portées au registre” (Article R123-150 of the Commercial Code) — present it to the bank, have the blocked funds released to the operating account, and register the beneficial owners in the RBE without delay. Publication in BODACC (the official bulletin of civil and commercial announcements, Bulletin officiel des annonces civiles et commerciales) follows registration automatically and gives your company its public face.

Three practical scenarios close the picture. If two banks refuse in parallel, keep both certificates: you need only one to file, but the second proves you did not manufacture the refusal and documents the market’s view of your file. If the refusal cites your non-resident status alone, complete the file and file for designation rather than arguing discrimination with the branch — the designation order solves the problem faster than any complaint. If your activity needs a licence you do not yet hold, consider sequencing: obtain the capital-deposit certificate via a notary, register, secure the designated operating account, then pursue the licence with a company that already exists and already banks. In each scenario the logic is the same: documentary completeness first, public procedure second, commercial negotiation third. Banks open accounts for foreign-held companies every day in France; they open them for files they can defend before their own compliance department.

Conclusion

A refused bank account is a procedural event, not a verdict on your project. French law requires banks to identify you rigorously — client, beneficial owner, purpose of the relationship — and allows them to walk away when they cannot do so lawfully. But where the company is domiciled in France, holds no account and proves the refusal, the same law orders a solution: the Banque de France designates a bank within one business day of receiving the complete file, and that bank opens a deposit account with the regulated basket of basic services. Your leverage as a founder living abroad is therefore entirely in the file: a written request with proof of sending, a written refusal or fifteen days of documented silence, a sworn statement of no account, consistent identity papers, a transparent chain to the natural person behind the company, and draft statuts carrying the takeover of pre-registration acts. Assemble that bundle before you fly, file it cleanly, cooperate with the designated bank as actively as with the first, and the refusal becomes a short delay instead of a dead end. The capital gets deposited, the certificate gets issued, the greffe registers, the Kbis arrives — and the company you built from another continent starts paying, hiring and invoicing under French law.