You live in London, New York, Dubai, Singapore or Montreal and you want to run a real operating company in France. You have chosen the SAS, the French simplified joint-stock company, you have drafted articles of association, you have a Paris address for the registered office, and then everything stops at the bank. The bank asks for a French proof of address you do not have, a face-to-face meeting you cannot attend this week, the origin of every euro you will contribute, the identity of every beneficial owner behind your holding company, and a blocked-funds certificate before the company even exists. A second bank simply stops answering. If you push the file too fast, you lose two weeks. If you wait, your lease, your first hire and your VAT number all wait with you. This guide explains, for a foreign founder living abroad, how to open a French corporate bank account in the right order, what the blocked-funds certificate must contain, what the bank is allowed to ask under anti-money-laundering rules, and how to challenge a refusal through the Banque de France designation procedure without restarting from zero. It assumes you are creating a SAS or SASU, the vehicle most foreign founders use, and it explains every French acronym as we go: Kbis, which is the official identity card of your company issued by the court clerk, greffe, which is the clerk office of the commercial court, RCS, which is the Trade and Companies Register, RNE, which is the National Enterprise Register fed through the one-stop shop, INPI, which is the French intellectual property office that operates that one-stop shop, and URSSAF, which is the agency that collects employer social charges once you hire.<\/p>\n
A French SAS, and its one-shareholder version the SASU, can be formed by one or more persons, and the statute says in its first sentence that founders bear losses only up to their contributions. The exact wording is important because banks repeat it back to you when they ask who is liable for what: \u201cUne soci\u00e9t\u00e9 par actions simplifi\u00e9e peut \u00eatre institu\u00e9e par une ou plusieurs personnes qui ne supportent les pertes qu’\u00e0 concurrence de leur apport.\u201d<\/a> That rule, set by Article L227-1 of the Commercial Code<\/a>, is why foreign founders love the SAS: your Paris landlord, your French supplier and the tax office cannot pursue your personal assets for company debts, as long as you have not given a personal guarantee and have not committed a personal fault that engages director liability. The price of that limited liability is discipline at formation. You must subscribe the capital in the articles, pay at least half of cash contributions on day one for a SAS, deposit those funds with a qualified depositary, and prove that deposit with a certificate before you can register.<\/p>\n In practice, a founder living abroad deposits the cash with a French bank, with the Caisse des depots, or with a notary, who is a regulated public officer entitled to hold funds. Most founders choose a bank because the same bank will later become the operating bank, but you are not legally obliged to do so. You can deposit with Bank A to get the certificate and later operate with Bank B. What matters is the paper the depositary gives you. Article L225-13 of the Commercial Code<\/a> states: \u201cLes versements sont constat\u00e9s par un certificat du d\u00e9positaire \u00e9tabli, au moment du d\u00e9p\u00f4t des fonds, sur pr\u00e9sentation de la liste des actionnaires mentionnant les sommes vers\u00e9es par chacun d’eux.\u201d<\/a> In plain English, the bank or notary must issue, at the very moment of the deposit, a certificate listing each shareholder and the exact amount paid by each of them. Without that list, the greffe, the clerk of the commercial court that checks your formation file, will reject your registration. Founders living abroad fail here for three avoidable reasons. First, the wire comes from a different name than the subscriber: your holding company subscribes but you wire from your personal account, or your spouse wires, or a friend advances the money. The depositary then refuses to certify because the payer and the subscriber do not match. Always wire from an account in the exact name of the subscriber stated in the draft articles. If a foreign parent company subscribes, wire from that parent account, with the reference showing the name of the future French SAS in formation. Second, the transfer arrives in several instalments with fees deducted, so the credited amount is a few euros short. Ask your bank for a wire in euros with OUR charges, keep the SWIFT confirmation, and check that the credited amount matches the subscribed paid-up amount to the cent. Third, the list of shareholders is vague: \u201cholding company plus partner\u201d without amounts, or amounts in dollars. The certificate must state names, amounts paid by each subscriber, and the total deposited. Ask the depositary in advance for its template and send the draft shareholder list before wiring.<\/p>\n From abroad, prepare a deposit pack that answers the questions every French depositary now asks on day one. Include a certified passport copy for each natural-person subscriber and each legal representative of a subscribing company, a recent proof of address in your country with a certified translation if it is not in French or English, the draft articles showing the capital, the par value and the amount paid up, a register of beneficial owners in draft form, a short written explanation of the origin of the funds, and the bank details of the sending account. If the subscriber is a foreign company, add its certificate of incorporation with apostille where required, a board resolution authorising the subscription and appointing the person who signs, the chain of ownership up to the ultimate natural persons, and the latest accounts if available. Send this pack by email before wiring a single euro and ask two questions in writing: do you accept subscribers resident in my country, and do you allow remote identification for the deposit. Some banks accept video identification, some require you to come to a Paris branch, some accept a deposit through a French notary while you stay abroad. Knowing this before the wire saves you the classic trap: money sent, file frozen because the bank will not identify you remotely, money stuck until you fly in. If one bank says no at this deposit stage, that is not yet the formal refusal that opens the Banque de France procedure described below, because the company does not exist yet and there is no account to open. Treat it as a commercial refusal, keep the email, and move the deposit to a notary or another bank the same day. Time matters because your draft lease, your domiciliation contract and your hiring plan all expire.<\/p>\n Once the deposit is credited, check the certificate line by line before leaving the branch or closing the video call. It must show the name of the future company with the words in formation, the depositary name and address, the date of deposit, the total amount deposited, the list of subscribers with amounts paid by each, and a statement that the funds are blocked. Keep the original, or the qualified electronic original, with your formation file. You will file it with the one-stop shop on the INPI portal, which forwards your file to the greffe for entry in the RCS and the RNE. The greffe verifies regularity of formation. Article L210-7 of the Commercial Code<\/a> provides: \u201cIl est proc\u00e9d\u00e9 \u00e0 l’immatriculation de la soci\u00e9t\u00e9 apr\u00e8s v\u00e9rification par le greffier du tribunal comp\u00e9tent de la r\u00e9gularit\u00e9 de sa constitution\u201d<\/a> in the conditions set for the Trade and Companies Register. If the certificate is missing, inconsistent with the articles, or shows a different total than the articles, the greffe asks for correction and you lose a week. If everything matches, you receive the Kbis, the official extract that proves your company exists, with its SIREN number, registered office, president, capital and activity. Only then can the blocked money be released to the operating account.<\/p>\n That release rule is strict and protects subscribers. Article L225-11 of the Commercial Code<\/a> states: \u201cLe retrait des fonds provenant des souscriptions en num\u00e9raire ne peut \u00eatre effectu\u00e9 par le mandataire de la soci\u00e9t\u00e9 avant l’immatriculation de celle-ci au registre du commerce et des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s.\u201d<\/a> In other words, no one, not even the president you appointed, can touch the deposited capital before the RCS registration appears on the Kbis. The same article adds that if the company is not formed or not registered within six months of the first deposit, any subscriber can ask a court to appoint an agent to withdraw the funds and return them, less distribution costs. For a foreign founder, this is both a protection and a deadline. If your file drags because the bank asked for a third round of documents, diary the six-month date from the first deposit. Do not let the deposit expire while you negotiate. If registration will take longer, ask the depositary in writing what it needs to keep the funds, and keep every receipt so you can prove the delay does not come from you.<\/p>\n The most frequent block is identification and verification of beneficial owners. French banks must, before entering into a business relationship, identify the client and where relevant the beneficial owner, and verify those identities on the basis of probative written documents. Article L561-5 of the Monetary and Financial Code<\/a> requires banks to \u201cIdentifient leur client et, le cas \u00e9ch\u00e9ant, le b\u00e9n\u00e9ficiaire effectif au sens de l’article L. 561-2-2\u201d<\/a> and to verify those elements. The beneficial owner is defined by statute as the natural person or persons who ultimately control the client or for whom an operation is carried out. The code says: \u201cle b\u00e9n\u00e9ficiaire effectif est la ou les personnes physiques\u201d<\/a> who, directly or indirectly, control the client in last resort, as detailed in Article L561-2-2 of the Monetary and Financial Code<\/a>. For a foreign founder, this means the bank looks through every layer. If a Delaware LLC or a UK Ltd subscribes to your SAS, the bank will ask who owns that LLC or Ltd, up to the human beings, with percentages, dates of birth, addresses and supporting IDs. If a trust or a nominee sits in the chain, expect deeper questions and longer delays. Prepare a one-page ownership chart in English and French, signed and dated, showing each layer with percentages adding to one hundred, plus passports for each person above twenty-five percent and for the president of the future SAS. If you cannot produce this chart, the bank must not act. Article L561-8 of the Monetary and Financial Code<\/a> is blunt: when the bank cannot satisfy its identification duties, \u201celle n’ex\u00e9cute aucune op\u00e9ration, quelles qu’en soient les modalit\u00e9s, n’\u00e9tablit ni ne poursuit aucune relation d’affaires\u201d<\/a>. That sentence explains ninety percent of silent refusals. The bank is not allowed to take your money first and check later. It must check first.<\/p>\n The second block is proof of address and tax residence. A founder living abroad often sends a utility bill in a foreign language, a bank statement older than three months, or a phone bill the French bank does not accept. Send a recent proof, less than three months old, in your name, matching the passport address or accompanied by an explanation of the difference, with a translation if needed. Add your foreign tax identification number and state clearly where you are tax resident. French banks must report and screen for tax purposes, and mismatches between the declared residence, the sending country and the phone number trigger enhanced review. If you have recently moved, explain the move in one paragraph with dates and attach both the old and new proofs. Do not send a Paris friend address as your personal address. Use your real foreign address for yourself and the real French address for the future registered office, with the domiciliation contract or draft lease attached. Mixing the two creates suspicion that a short email cannot undo.<\/p>\n The third block is origin of funds and purpose of the company. Banks must understand where the capital comes from and what the French company will do. A one-line statement such as personal savings is not enough when the amount is significant or comes from a company account, from crypto proceeds, from a recent property sale, or from several countries. Write a half-page note: source of funds, employer or business that generated them, country where tax was paid, path of the transfer with account numbers and dates, and purpose of the French company with expected turnover, suppliers and clients. Attach the supporting documents: payslips or sale deed, tax return extract, bank statements showing accumulation, board minutes authorising the investment. If the funds come from a third party, for example a parent advancing cash that will later convert to capital, stop and restructure before wiring. A deposit must come from subscribers for their subscription. A loan wired as capital will be rejected or will create a mismatch between the certificate and the articles that the greffe will catch later.<\/p>\n The fourth block is the mismatch between draft articles and the file. Common errors for founders working in English templates include capital in words different from capital in figures, contributions described as 1,000 shares of 10 euros but total shown as 9,000 euros, payment described as fully paid while the wire covers only half, a foreign parent named slightly differently than in its incorporation certificate, or a president who has not signed acceptance. The depositary certifies what you declare, but the greffe later compares the certificate, the articles and the beneficial-owner declaration. Fix the drafts before the deposit, not after. Ask a French counsel or the notary to align the names, amounts, dates and signatures across articles, shareholder list, deposit request and beneficial-owner form. Keep a single PDF bundle with the same spelling everywhere. Accents matter in French names and addresses. An accent turned into a question mark in your file creates mismatches that delay the Kbis and later disturb VAT registration and hiring declarations. Work and file entirely in UTF-8 from start to finish.<\/p>\n For a broader view of the full formation sequence after the bank step, from Kbis to VAT to first hire, see our pillar guide for foreign founders: Setting Up a Company in France as a Foreign Founder: Bank Account, Kbis, VAT and Your First Hire<\/a>. The present article focuses only on the banking bottleneck, which is where most files from abroad lose time, and it drills into the refusal procedure that the general guide only summarises.<\/p>\n Once the greffe issues the Kbis, your company legally exists and the blocked capital can move to an operating account in the name of the SAS. In practice, founders living abroad face a second wave of requests at this stage. The bank that accepted the deposit may still ask for the final Kbis, the final articles stamped by the greffe, the SIREN number issued by INSEE, the proof of the French registered office, the identity of the president with specimen signature, the list of persons authorised to move money, and the updated beneficial-owner register. Prepare these the day the Kbis arrives. Download the Kbis from the official source, save it as PDF without retyping, and send the same spelling of the company name everywhere. The Kbis is the company identity card: denomination, form SAS or SASU, capital, registered office, president, duration, SIREN, activity code APE given by INSEE, and registration references for the RCS and RNE. The greffe address on the Kbis tells you which commercial court controls your file. If you change the registered office from a domiciliation to a real lease in Paris or Ile-de-France, update the RCS promptly, because the bank screens the registered-office proof against the Kbis and freezes online access when they diverge.<\/p>\n At this point, distinguish two situations. If a bank has already accepted your deposit and your file is clean, it usually opens the operating account quickly, releases the blocked funds internally, and gives you a RIB, which is the French bank identity statement with IBAN and BIC, plus online access, a debit card for the president, and authorisation for SEPA transfers, direct debits for URSSAF and taxes, and remote deposit of client payments. If you prefer another bank for daily operations, ask the depositary for a written release letter referencing the Kbis and the amount released, then present that letter to the new bank with the full file. Do not close the first relationship until the second account is fully active and the capital has landed. Founders who close too early find themselves with money in transit, no RIB to give to clients, and payroll blocked.<\/p>\n If no bank wants your operating account, French law provides a specific safety net called the right to an account. The core rule is short and must be quoted exactly because banks and founders both misread it: \u201cA droit \u00e0 l’ouverture d’un compte de d\u00e9p\u00f4t dans l’\u00e9tablissement de cr\u00e9dit de son choix, sous r\u00e9serve d’\u00eatre d\u00e9pourvu d’un tel compte en France\u201d<\/a> any natural or legal person domiciled in France, under Article L312-1 of the Monetary and Financial Code<\/a>. Your SAS, once registered with a French registered office, is a legal person domiciled in France for this purpose, even if its shareholder and president live abroad. The condition is that it holds no deposit account in France. If your SAS already holds an operating account, even an empty one, you cannot use this procedure to force a second bank to open another account. If it holds none, because every bank refused or stopped answering, you can trigger the designation.<\/p>\n The designated bank does not offer the full private-banking catalogue. It must provide basic banking services defined by decree. Article D312-5-1 of the Monetary and Financial Code<\/a> states: \u201cLes services bancaires de base mentionn\u00e9s au III de l’article L. 312-1 comprennent\u201d<\/a> a list that includes over-the-counter cash deposits and withdrawals at the account-holding branch, a payment card with systematic authorisation that works for internet payments and cash withdrawals in the European Union, two bank cheques per month or equivalent means, and cash operations. In daily life for a foreign-run SAS, this means you can receive client wires, pay suppliers by transfer, pay URSSAF and VAT by direct debit, withdraw cash at the counter, and operate online within the limits of systematic authorisation. It does not guarantee an overdraft, a credit line, a premium card, or foreign-currency credit. Plan your cash accordingly. If you need credit, negotiate it separately once the basic account has run cleanly for several months with real turnover, filed VAT returns and paid social charges on time. Banks lend on observed flows, not on business plans sent from abroad.<\/p>\n While the account runs, keep three compliance reflexes that foreign founders often neglect. First, keep the beneficial-owner register updated. If you increase capital, sell shares, bring in a new investor, or interpose a holding company, file the update and send the new chart to the bank the same week. A bank that discovers a new undisclosed owner during a periodic review will freeze online payments until the file is refreshed, which hurts more than the one hour needed to update. Second, answer periodic review emails within days, not weeks. French banks must re-verify identity, activity and flows at intervals that depend on risk. A founder abroad who ignores a review letter because it went to the Paris domiciliation address is the classic cause of a sudden block. Give the bank a monitored email, authorise the domiciliation agent to forward bank mail the same day, and keep a French phone number or an app that receives one-time codes abroad. Third, separate personal and company money strictly. Paying your Paris rent from the SAS account, or receiving a client payment on your personal foreign account, creates accounting and tax noise and triggers alerts. Use the SAS RIB for all company flows from the Kbis date onward, keep invoices matching wires, and keep the capital-release letter with the accounts. Your French accountant will need it to book the capital correctly and to explain the first bank statements to the tax office if asked.<\/p>\n Paris and Ile-de-France specifics help here. Most foreign founders choose a Paris registered office for credibility, but open the account where the file can be handled. If your president lives abroad, ask whether the branch that holds the file accepts video signatures, powers of attorney in English with certified translation, and specimen signatures by secure electronic signature. Some Paris branches handling non-resident files do this daily, others never do. A branch that handles international files will also know how to register the foreign phone number for strong authentication, how to set SEPA and international wire limits that fit your business, and how to issue employer attestations the URSSAF and the labour administration expect when you hire. If your file is strong but the branch is not equipped, ask the bank to move the file to its international or non-resident desk rather than restarting with a new bank. That internal transfer is faster than a new application and preserves the history of your deposit.<\/p>\n A refusal must be proven to be useful. French law requires the bank that refuses to give you, systematically, free of charge and without delay, a written certificate of refusal and information about the Banque de France remedy, on paper and on another durable medium if you expressly request it. Ask for it in writing the day you sense a refusal: please send the attestation de refus d’ouverture de compte with the reasons and the information on referral to the Banque de France. Keep the refusal email, the date, the branch, the name of the person who refused, and the list of documents you had provided. If the bank only says your profile does not fit its commercial policy, still request the certificate. If the bank says it cannot open because it could not verify identity or beneficial owners, treat that as a file problem first, not a rights problem. Complete the file as described above, resubmit once with the missing pieces highlighted, and only then trigger the designation if the answer stays negative. The designation works best on a complete file. Filing with an incomplete file leads the designated bank to refuse again on the same anti-money-laundering ground, and Article L561-8 of the Monetary and Financial Code<\/a> expressly extends that outcome to designated banks: the paragraph says the no-operation rule also applies when a bank designated by the Banque de France on the basis of Article L312-1 could not satisfy its identification duties.<\/p>\n The referral itself is fast on paper. The statute provides that the person refused can ask the Banque de France to designate a credit institution near home or another place of choice, taking market shares into account, and that designation comes within one business day of receipt of the required documents defined by order. The exact phrase to remember for your timetable is: \u201cdans un d\u00e9lai d’un jour ouvr\u00e9 \u00e0 compter de la r\u00e9ception des pi\u00e8ces requises d\u00e9finies par arr\u00eat\u00e9.\u201d<\/a> From abroad, file online through the Banque de France procedure for the right to an account, attaching the refusal certificate, your ID, the Kbis for the SAS, proof of the French registered office, the draft or signed account agreement if any, and the identification and beneficial-owner documents the banks already asked for. State a practical place for the account: Paris branch near your domiciliation if you run the company from abroad with trips to Paris, or the city of your French manager if you have one. The Banque de France designates a bank, that bank must then open the deposit account with basic services, and the statute sets its deadline in clear terms: \u201cIls proc\u00e8dent \u00e0 l’ouverture du compte de d\u00e9p\u00f4t dans les trois jours ouvr\u00e9s \u00e0 compter de la r\u00e9ception de l’ensemble des pi\u00e8ces qui lui sont n\u00e9cessaires \u00e0 cet effet.\u201d<\/a> In other words, one business day to designate, three business days to open once the designated bank holds the complete file. In real life, count more if your file needs translation, if the Kbis just issued and databases are not yet synchronised, or if the designated bank asks for a video meeting across time zones. File early in the week, answer the same day, and keep the capital-release timetable aligned so the money does not sit blocked while the new account opens.<\/p>\n Manage the account agreement with the same care as the deposit certificate. The law requires that management of an account opened under this procedure be governed by a written agreement, on paper or another durable medium if you consent. Read the fee schedule for basic services, the limits on cards with systematic authorisation, the conditions for SEPA direct debits for taxes and URSSAF, the rules for international wires and foreign-currency accounts, and the notice periods. Keep a signed copy with the Kbis. If the designated bank later wants to close the account, it can only do so on the limited grounds listed in Article L312-1, such as deliberate use for suspected illegal operations, false information, loss of domicile conditions, opening of a second account providing basic services, repeated incivility, or an anti-money-laundering termination ground, with a reasoned letter, information to the Banque de France, and in principle two months notice except for fraud or false information. If you receive such a letter, do not ignore it. Check which ground is invoked, correct any factual error in writing with proof, keep paying taxes and social charges from another route so you do not create arrears during the dispute, and seek advice quickly if the ground touches on suspicion of illicit purpose, because that letter will follow you to the next bank.<\/p>\n Build your evidence from day one so any challenge from abroad is winnable on paper. Keep a chronological bundle: deposit request and shareholder list, SWIFT confirmations, deposit certificate, one-stop-shop filing receipt, Kbis, SIREN notice, registered-office contract, refusals with dates, Banque de France filing with acknowledgment, designation letter, new bank agreement, RIB, capital-release letter, first statements, VAT registration and first returns, URSSAF registration and first payroll records. That bundle proves you acted in order, with matching names and amounts, and that any delay came from a documented refusal, not from negligence. If a supplier or the tax office penalises you for late payment caused by a documented bank block, that bundle supports a request for waiver or a defence. If a bank claims you provided inaccurate information, the bundle shows what you actually sent and when. If a dispute reaches a mediator, the banking mediator attached to the bank, or a court, judges decide on documents, not on memory. No official finding of intrusion, loss or fault is needed to use this procedure, and none should be asserted beyond what the papers say. Contracts you signed, including the bank agreement and the domiciliation contract, prevail over general online commentary, and only a court decides liability if a payment failure causes loss.<\/p>\n Practical timetable for a founder abroad helps to hold the whole project together. Week one, align draft articles, shareholder list and deposit pack, and secure written acceptance of remote identification. Week two, wire the capital, obtain the blocked-funds certificate, and file for registration through the INPI one-stop shop to the greffe for RCS and RNE entry. Week three, collect the Kbis, request release of the funds, and activate the operating account with RIB, online access and direct debits for future URSSAF and VAT. If a refusal hits at the deposit stage, switch depositary the same day. If it hits at the operating-account stage, request the written refusal certificate immediately and file for Banque de France designation without waiting a second commercial round. In parallel, do not pause VAT registration, hiring declarations and insurance: the company exists from the Kbis date, with tax and employer duties running even if the card arrives later. Pay by wire from the active account, keep proof, and reconcile once online access is complete. That discipline is what turns a bank delay from a company-wide freeze into a two-week administrative step.<\/p>\n Opening a French corporate bank account from abroad is a paper chain where each link must match the next: subscriber name matching payer name, amounts in articles matching the blocked-funds certificate, certificate matching the greffe filing, Kbis matching the operating-account file, beneficial owners declared the same way to the bank and to the register. The statutes quoted above set that chain: limited liability for the SAS under Article L227-1, certification of payments at the moment of deposit under Article L225-13, no withdrawal before RCS registration under Article L225-11, registration after verification by the greffe under Article L210-7, identification of clients and beneficial owners under Articles L561-5 and L561-2-2 with a duty to abstain under Article L561-8 when verification fails, and a right to a deposit account with basic services under Article L312-1, detailed by Article D312-5-1, with designation in one business day and opening in three business days on a complete file. Prepare the deposit pack before wiring, check the certificate to the cent, keep one consistent spelling across all documents, and transform any refusal into a written certificate that opens the Banque de France route instead of an oral no that wastes a month. Done in that order, the bank step stops blocking your lease, your VAT and your first hire, and your French company starts operating on real flows that future banks, suppliers and administrations can trust.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Foreign founder blocked at the bank? Capital deposit, blocked-funds certificate, Kbis release and how to challenge a refusal through Banque de France designation, from abroad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":251031309,"featured_media":16422,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kj_source_type":"","_kj_official_id":"","_kj_official_url":"","_kj_judilibre_id":"","_kj_jur":"","_kj_lieu":"","_kj_chambre":"","_kj_rg":"","_kj_date":"","activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"federated","footnotes":""},"categories":[80314,80313],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2134765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-decryptage","category-doing-business-in-france"],"yoast_head":"\nB. What blocks the certificate when you live abroad and how to fix each point without restarting<\/h3>\n
II. Get the operating account running from abroad and challenge a refusal through the Banque de France route<\/h2>\n
A. What the bank must give you once the Kbis exists and what basic services mean in practice<\/h3>\n
B. How to challenge a refusal from abroad without losing your timetable: refusal letter, Banque de France designation and remedies<\/h3>\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n