You live in London, New York, Dubai or Singapore. Your French SAS (société par actions simplifiée, the flexible French joint-stock company most foreign founders choose) is ready on paper: the draft articles are signed, the registered office (siège social) is domiciled in Paris, and all that is missing is a French corporate bank account. Then the rejections start. One bank asks for a president resident in France, which no statute requires. Another stops answering after you send a foreign passport and a utility bill from abroad. A third closes the file with a polite formula about its commercial policy. Without an account, you cannot deposit the share capital, and without the deposit certificate, the company cannot be registered. This article explains the two doors every foreign founder must pass: first, the deposit of the capital in a blocked account, which any bank can refuse; second, the legal remedy that forces the system to take you, namely the right to an account (droit au compte) under Article L312-1 of the French Monetary and Financial Code with designation of a bank by the Banque de France (the French central bank). It then explains the wall on which even this remedy can break: the anti-money-laundering vigilance duties of banks, as applied by the Paris Court of Appeal on 6 July 2023 in a case that every foreign founder should read before filing anything. For the wider incorporation sequence, see our guide to setting up a company in France as a foreign founder.
I. Opening a French business bank account from abroad: the two doors every foreign founder must pass
A. Depositing the share capital without flying to Paris: the blocked account and the deposit certificate
French company law makes the bank account the first material step of the incorporation, not an administrative detail to be arranged later. Article L225-5 of the French Commercial Code provides that “Les fonds provenant des souscriptions en numéraire et la liste des souscripteurs avec l’indication des sommes versées par chacun d’eux font l’objet d’un dépôt dans les conditions déterminées par décret en Conseil d’Etat” (funds from cash subscriptions and the list of subscribers with the sums paid by each must be deposited under conditions set by decree in Conseil d’Etat). The same article adds that “nul ne peut détenir plus de huit jours les sommes recueillies pour le compte d’une société en formation” (no one may hold for more than eight days sums collected on behalf of a company in formation). In practice, the founder wires the cash contributions to a blocked account opened in the name of the company in formation, and the depositary issues a certificate of deposit of funds (attestation or certificat de dépôt des fonds). The official entreprendre.service-public.fr guide to the professional bank account of a company confirms that opening such an account is the essential step for depositing the share capital, since the resulting deposit certificate is enclosed with the registration file: Compte bancaire professionnel.. Without that certificate, the file submitted to the single window (guichet unique, operated by the INPI, the French National Institute of Industrial Property) is incomplete and registration cannot proceed.
The SAS is the vehicle of choice for a foreign shareholder because Article L227-1 of the French Commercial Code provides that “Une société par actions simplifiée peut être instituée par une ou plusieurs personnes qui ne supportent les pertes qu’à concurrence de leur apport” (a simplified joint-stock company may be formed by one or more persons whose liability for losses is limited to their contributions). A single foreign shareholder can therefore form a SASU (société par actions simplifiée unipersonnelle, a one-person SAS) with a freely set capital, including a symbolic one euro, although a visibly under-capitalised company raises eyebrows at banks and suppliers. Only the portion actually paid up must be deposited: the statutes fix the subscribed capital, the deposited fraction sits blocked until registration, and the balance can be called later by the president. The blocked account is provisional by design; once the company acquires legal personality, the funds are released to the operating account. That personality itself dates from registration, since Article L210-6 of the French Commercial Code states that “Les sociétés commerciales jouissent de la personnalité morale à dater de leur immatriculation au registre du commerce et des sociétés” (commercial companies enjoy legal personality from their registration with the trade and companies register). The Kbis, the official extract every French company receives at registration from the greffe (the clerk’s office of the commercial court), is the document the bank waits for before unblocking the money.
From abroad, this first door is usually opened remotely, and preparation decides everything. The file a bank expects for a company in formation comprises the draft statutes, the valid identity document of each shareholder and of the president, proof of the registered address in France (domiciliation contract, lease or domiciliation company certificate), and proof of the personal address of the founders abroad, translated where necessary. Online banks for professionals and several traditional networks accept remote applications and video identification, while some counters still ask the president to appear in person. Nothing in the statutes requires the president of a SAS to reside in France, and a request presented as a legal requirement should be answered by offering equivalent identification documents rather than by abandoning the bank. Where one bank refuses, nothing obliges you to insist: at this deposit stage, no bank is forced to take your capital, and the efficient move is to apply to several institutions in parallel, including one online professional bank whose onboarding process is designed for remote founders. Keep every refusal letter or unanswered application, because those documents become the key to the second door. A refusal accompanied by no reason, or no answer at all within fifteen days, is precisely what triggers the statutory remedy described below. Founders who arrive with a complete file, a coherent business purpose stated in the statutes, and a first client or supplier contract in hand obtain the deposit certificate within days; founders who present an opaque structure with no activity description accumulate refusals that follow them to the next stage.
B. Refused everywhere? The Banque de France designation that forces a bank to take you
When every bank says no, French law offers a remedy that few foreign founders know: the right to an account. Article L312-1 of the French Monetary and Financial Code 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 : 1° Toute personne physique ou morale domiciliée en France” (any natural or legal person domiciled in France, provided it holds no such account in France, is entitled to the opening of a deposit account with the credit institution of its choice). A SAS whose siège social is in France is a personne morale domiciliée en France even when its shareholders and its president live abroad, so it qualifies. The condition is strict but simple: the company must hold no deposit account in France. A company that already has one account and wants a second, more convenient one cannot use this procedure; a company that has been refused everywhere can.
The procedure runs in three documented steps, and each step has a deadline that the official entreprendre.service-public.fr guide to refusals recalls precisely: Refus d’ouverture d’un compte bancaire professionnel : droits et recours. First, apply to the bank of your choice and obtain proof of refusal. The bank must provide a written attestation of refusal (attestation de refus) within fifteen days of the request, and the official guide states that the bank must provide a written refusal certificate within fifteen days of the request, and silence once that period expires counts as a refusal to open the account (droit au compte professionnel : attestation de refus sous quinze jours, silence valant refus). Send the application by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt or deliver it by hand against receipt, so the fifteen days run from a provable date. Second, file a right-to-an-account application (dossier de droit au compte) with the Banque de France, enclosing identity documents, proof of domicile, the statutes or draft statutes of the company, and the refusal letter or the proof of the unanswered fifteen-day-old request. The file can be lodged at a Banque de France counter, by post, or online. Third, the Banque de France designates a bank near the domicile or another place of the applicant’s choice, taking market shares into account, within one working day of receiving the complete file. The designated bank is then bound: Article L312-1 provides that designated institutions “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” (open the deposit account within three working days of receiving all the documents they need for that purpose). The account opened through this channel carries the basic banking services (services bancaires de base) whose content is fixed by decree: Article D312-5 of the French Monetary and Financial Code lists “L’ouverture, la tenue et la clôture du compte” (opening, maintaining and closing the account), the provision of bank identity statements (relevés d’identité bancaire, universally called RIB), monthly statements, SEPA transfers and direct debits, cash deposits and withdrawals, remote balance consultation, and a payment card usable for online payments and cash withdrawals in the European Union. Management of the account is governed by a written agreement, and the bank may only close such an account on narrow statutory grounds such as deliberate use for illegal operations.
For a foreign founder, three practical points make or break this second door. First, the refusal must be documented against the company, not against you personally: keep the bank’s letter or the proof of dispatch of your registered application. Second, the designation does not wash away the company’s duties: the designated bank will still demand the full identification file described in the previous section, and an incomplete file restarts the three-working-day clock rather than forcing an immediate opening. Third, the designated account is a deposit account with basic services, which is exactly what a newly formed company needs to receive its capital, pay the registration fees and start billing; credit facilities, overdrafts and foreign-currency services are negotiated later, once the relationship exists. For the complete first-stage walkthrough of the refusals, the blocked capital and the designation file itself, read our companion guide for foreign founders on opening a corporate bank account in France when banks say no from abroad; the present article takes over where that guide stops, at the anti-money-laundering wall on which even a designation can break. Used correctly, the designation converts a wall of silent refusals into an account opened within days, with the Kbis following from the greffe once the INPI single window transmits a complete file under Article R123-3 of the French Commercial Code, which organises the electronic file sent to the single body (organisme unique). But the designation is not a magic key, because the designated bank retains one lawful ground to keep the door shut.
II. Why even a bank ordered to take you can still say no: the anti-money-laundering wall
A. The Paris ruling every foreign founder should read: right to an account versus vigilance duties
The leading illustration is a Paris case decided on 6 July 2023 by the Paris Court of Appeal (Pôle 1, Chambre 2, RG No. 22/17393, SASU Locial v. BNP Paribas), available on the official judicial database: CA Paris, 6 juillet 2023, RG 22/17393. The facts read like the situation of many foreign founders. A one-person SAS, Locial, invoked the right to an account under Article L312-1 and obtained the designation of BNP Paribas by the Banque de France on 16 August 2022. Considering that the bank was unduly refusing to open the account, the company sued the bank in summary proceedings (référé) before the Paris commercial court, seeking an injunction to open the account and a 30,000 euro provision for commercial loss. The interim judge rejected all requests on 30 September 2022, and the Court of Appeal confirmed the rejection in every respect, ordering the company to pay costs. The reasoning matters more than the outcome, because the court spelled out the exact articulation between the two bodies of rules.
The court first recalled that “le droit au compte, prévu par l’article L. 312-1 du code monétaire et financier, doit s’articuler avec les obligations de vigilance relatives à la lutte contre le blanchiment de capitaux et le financement du terrorisme, auxquelles sont assujettis les établissements bancaires, conformément aux articles L. 561-4-1 et suivants du code monétaire et financier” (CA Paris, 6 July 2023, RG 22/17393) (the right to an account provided for by Article L312-1 of the Monetary and Financial Code must be reconciled with the vigilance obligations regarding the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing to which banks are subject, in accordance with Articles L561-4-1 and following of the same code). It then quoted the decisive provision, Article L561-8 of the French Monetary and Financial Code: “En particulier, il résulte de l’article L. 561-8 de ce code que lorsqu’un établissement bancaire n’est pas en mesure de satisfaire aux obligations prévues à l’article L. 561-5 ou à l’article L. 561-5-1, il n’exécute aucune opération, quelles qu’en soient les modalités, n’établit ni ne poursuit aucune relation d’affaires” (CA Paris, 6 July 2023, RG 22/17393) (where a person covered by Article L561-2 is unable to satisfy the obligations laid down in Article L561-5 or Article L561-5-1, it carries out no transaction in any form and establishes or pursues no business relationship). And the court expressly held that “Cet article 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” (CA Paris, 6 July 2023, RG 22/17393) (this article also applies where a credit institution has been designated by the Banque de France on the basis of Article L312-1 and the institution was unable to satisfy one of the obligations laid down in Article L561-5 or Article L561-5-1).
Applied to the facts, the ruling is a checklist of what not to do. BNP Paribas relied on Article L561-5 of the French Monetary and Financial Code, which requires banks, before entering into a business relationship, to identify their client and where applicable the beneficial owner (bénéficiaire effectif, the natural person who ultimately owns or controls the company) and to verify those identification elements “sur présentation de tout document écrit à caractère probant” (on presentation of any written document of probative value). It relied further on Article L561-5-1 of the same code, under which banks must, before entering into the relationship, collect “les informations relatives à l’objet et à la nature de cette relation et tout autre élément d’information pertinent” (information on the purpose and nature of that relationship and any other relevant information), implemented by Article R561-12, which requires institutions to collect and analyse “les éléments d’information nécessaires à la connaissance de l’objet et de la nature de la relation d’affaires” (the information needed to understand the purpose and nature of the business relationship), with the depth of the checks adapted to the money-laundering risk. The bank had asked, from 19 August 2022, for the company’s main suppliers or clients, annual accounts or at least a forecast balance sheet (bilan prévisionnel), invoking the guidelines of the ACPR (Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution, the French banking supervisor) of 16 December 2021, which the court accepted as necessarily taken into account by banks even though the document has no binding force. Locial answered that only identity papers, proof of address, statutes and the Kbis extract were needed, and left unanswered a formal November 2022 request for its business model, its clients’ identity and its accounts. The court noted that the company carried on financial investment advisory activity without any licence or registration, without clarifying the real substance of its business or the identity of its clients, two large groups using an unregulated one-person company for financial placements. In those circumstances, the court held that “la société intimée peut valablement faire état, à tout le moins, d’une contestation sérieuse s’opposant à l’ouverture du compte” (CA Paris, 6 July 2023, RG 22/17393) (the respondent bank may validly rely, at the very least, on a serious dispute opposing the opening of the account), so neither summary relief nor a damages provision could succeed, the alleged impossibility of operating being proved by no document. The lesson for a foreign founder is blunt: the Banque de France designation opens the door, but the anti-money-laundering file is what lets you walk through it, and a court will side with the bank that asked precise questions against the company that refused to answer them.
B. The file that gets the account opened: beneficial owners, business model and Paris practicalities
The winning file answers, before they are asked, the three questions every French bank must resolve under Articles L561-5 and L561-5-1: who owns and controls the company, what the account will be used for, and where the money comes from. First, ownership must be transparent down to the natural persons. Prepare a register of beneficial owners (registre des bénéficiaires effectifs) consistent with the declaration filed at the greffe, with a passport and proof of address for each person holding directly or indirectly more than twenty-five percent of the capital or voting rights, plus the ownership chart when intermediate holding companies sit between the founder and the SAS. Second, the business model must be written down in one page: sector, clients and suppliers by name where they exist, expected invoicing volumes for the first year, and the origin of the funds deposited as capital (personal savings, intra-group loan, foreign parent transfer) with supporting statements. The Locial ruling shows that banks are entitled to request precisely the main suppliers or clients, the accounts or a forecast, and that new companies are expected to produce a forecast balance sheet and expected billing volume under the ACPR guidelines. A founder who volunteers this file at the first appointment is processed in days; a founder who treats these questions as intrusive accumulates refusals, and each unexplained refusal hardens the next bank’s risk scoring. Third, the activity stated in the statutes (objet social) must match the account’s foreseeable use: an IT consultancy that will receive transfers from crypto platforms, or a holding company that will place funds on foreign stock markets without any licence, triggers enhanced vigilance as a matter of the risk-based approach, and the file should explain the regulated or unregulated character of the activity with the corresponding registration numbers where applicable.
Paris and the Île-de-France region add practical specifics worth integrating from the start. The Banque de France counters in Paris receive right-to-an-account files for companies domiciled in the capital, and a file lodged in person with the refusal letter, the statutes and the beneficial-owner documents avoids the postal back-and-forth that costs weeks. The greffe of the Paris commercial court issues the Kbis once the single-window file is complete, and banks in Paris routinely verify the registration online before releasing blocked capital, so the founder should send the Kbis to the bank the day it arrives rather than waiting for a request. Founders who cannot travel should mandate in writing a person present in Paris to attend the bank interview, because several networks still condition definitive opening on a physical meeting with the president or a duly empowered representative, and the designation procedure does not remove that operational step: the three-working-day clock runs from receipt of all necessary documents, a meeting included where the bank requires one. Online professional banks, whose onboarding is built for remote identification, remain the fastest route for standard service, consulting or e-commerce companies with transparent ownership; traditional networks in Paris remain preferable where the company will need credit, guarantees or foreign-currency facilities within its first year. In both cases, keep the file identical across applications: contradictory descriptions of the activity given to two banks surface during cross-checks and destroy credibility. Where a refusal still arrives, read its reasons as free compliance advice, complete the missing piece, and reapply or file for designation with the completed file rather than litigating an incomplete one, since the courts, as Locial demonstrates, examine the content of the file before the behaviour of the bank.
Conclusion
A foreign founder refused a corporate bank account in France is not facing a closed system but a sequenced one. The capital is deposited in a blocked account against a certificate that completes the registration file; where banks refuse, the right to an account under Article L312-1 of the Monetary and Financial Code entitles any French-domiciled company with no account to a Banque de France designation, with a written refusal or fifteen days of silence as the entry ticket, a designation within one working day, and an account with basic services within three working days. The Paris Court of Appeal’s Locial ruling of 6 July 2023 then sets the boundary: even a designated bank must refuse where it cannot satisfy its vigilance duties under Articles L561-5, L561-5-1 and L561-8, and the founder who withholds the business model, the clients and the accounts loses in court. The account is therefore won twice, once with the procedure and once with the file: transparent beneficial ownership, a one-page business model with named counterparties and a forecast, and an activity description consistent across every application. Prepared this way, the designation that many founders discover too late becomes what the statute intended, an effective back door into the French banking system for companies whose only fault is to arrive from abroad.