You live in New York, London or Dubai and you are setting up a French company, usually a SAS (societe par actions simplifiee, the simplified joint-stock company foreign founders choose most often) or a SARL (societe a responsabilite limitee, the limited liability company). The articles of association, called the statuts, are ready. Then the process stalls on the same obstacle almost every non-resident founder meets: the bank will not open the account. The branch asks for a French proof of address you do not have, the online onboarding rejects your foreign passport, or the advisor tells you the file of a company whose director lives abroad will never pass compliance. Without that account you cannot deposit the share capital, and without the deposit certificate you cannot register the company and obtain the Kbis, which is the official excerpt from the RCS (registre du commerce et des societes, the trade and companies register) that proves your company exists. This article explains the two tracks that get you out of this deadlock: first, how to deposit the capital and secure the blocked-funds certificate even from abroad, and second, how to force a bank to open your company’s account through the droit au compte, the statutory right to an account enforced by the Banque de France, the French central bank. Each step is backed by the exact legal text and by court decisions that show what judges do when banks refuse and when shareholders cannot prove they paid.<\/p>\n
French company law sets the amount of the share capital in the statuts. The official business guidance confirms that the starting amount of a SAS or SASU (the one-person SAS) is freely set in the articles and can be as low as 1 euro, although a token capital weakens credibility with banks and suppliers (service-public guidance on forming and depositing the share capital<\/a>). The same freedom applies to the SARL and the EURL (the one-person SARL). The statute itself states the principle in general terms: “La forme, la dur\u00e9e qui ne peut exc\u00e9der quatre-vingt-dix-neuf ans, la d\u00e9nomination sociale, le si\u00e8ge social, l’objet social et le montant du capital social sont d\u00e9termin\u00e9s par les statuts de la soci\u00e9t\u00e9” (article L210-2 of the Commercial Code<\/a>). In practice, foreign founders who want a bank to take them seriously set a capital between 1,000 and 10,000 euros. A 1-euro company whose director lives abroad will find every later step harder, from the account opening to the first lease.<\/p>\n You do not have to pay the full amount on day one. For a SAS, the initial payment must be at least 50 percent of the amount stated in the articles, and the balance must be paid within five years after registration. For a SARL, the law requires that cash shares be paid up for at least one fifth of their amount, with the surplus released over no more than five years from registration: “Les parts repr\u00e9sentant des apports en num\u00e9raire doivent \u00eatre lib\u00e9r\u00e9es d’au moins un cinqui\u00e8me de leur montant. La lib\u00e9ration du surplus intervient en une ou plusieurs fois sur d\u00e9cision du g\u00e9rant, dans un d\u00e9lai qui ne peut exc\u00e9der cinq ans \u00e0 compter de l’immatriculation de la soci\u00e9t\u00e9 au registre du commerce et des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s” (article L223-7 of the Commercial Code<\/a>). The SAS follows the same five-year logic through the rules applicable to it: “Une 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” (article L227-1 of the Commercial Code<\/a>). Founders living abroad often choose to pay the whole capital immediately so that no later call for funds has to cross borders, but the law leaves the choice open.<\/p>\n The deposit itself must go to an authorised depositary: a bank (etablissement de credit) or a notary (notaire). The official service-public guidance states that the deposit of the share capital in a bank account is a mandatory step to register a commercial company, that the funds sit in a blocked account, and that they become available once the company is registered. The guidance also warns that the deposit cannot be made with a payment institution, which is an entity that provides payment services but cannot grant overdrafts or loans, and that since 1 June 2021 the Caisse des depots no longer accepts these deposits (service-public.fr, Constituer et deposer le capital social d’une societe<\/a>). When the company has several shareholders, each of them hands the funds directly to the depositary. For a founder wiring money from a US or UK account, the notary route is often the practical answer: French notaries accept foreign wire transfers for capital deposits, issue the certificate, and do not apply the onboarding policy of a retail bank. If you prefer a bank, ask in advance for its “foreign founder” or “non-resident company formation” desk and for the exact wording it requires on the wire reference, because the wording will matter later as evidence.<\/p>\n Two traps already threaten the deposit at this stage. First, never let an intermediary hold the money. The statute provides that, apart from the authorised depositaries, no one may keep funds collected for a company in formation for more than eight days: “A l’exception des d\u00e9positaires vis\u00e9s par le d\u00e9cret pr\u00e9vu \u00e0 l’alin\u00e9a pr\u00e9c\u00e9dent, nul ne peut d\u00e9tenir plus de huit jours les sommes recueillies pour le compte d’une soci\u00e9t\u00e9 en formation” (article L225-5 of the Commercial Code<\/a>). A consultant, a domiciliation agent or a well-meaning partner who keeps your capital for weeks breaks this rule. Second, label every transfer with the words “liberation du capital” plus the company name in formation and the shareholder’s name. A bare transfer from your personal account to the company’s future account proves nothing about capital, as a 2026 court decision shows in detail below. If your project involves several vehicles and you hesitate between a SAS, a SARL, a branch or a subsidiary, read our pillar guide first (choosing between a SAS, a SARL, a branch and a subsidiary from abroad<\/a>), because the vehicle determines who deposits, who certifies and who answers later calls for funds.<\/p>\n The depositary issues an attestation de depot des fonds, the blocked-funds certificate, which lists the subscribers and the sums paid by each. This certificate is one of the documents filed with the Guichet unique, the single online business formalities portal, to apply for registration. Once the company is registered, the greffe, which is the clerk’s office of the commercial court keeping the RCS, issues the Kbis excerpt for the company. Only then can the blocked money move. The statute is categorical: “Le 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” (article L225-11 of the Commercial Code<\/a>). This is why the depositary keeps the funds even if you send urgent instructions from abroad: the law forbids any release before registration, and the registration date is the date the company acquires legal personality: “Les soci\u00e9t\u00e9s commerciales jouissent de la personnalit\u00e9 morale \u00e0 dater de leur immatriculation au registre du commerce et des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s” (article L210-6 of the Commercial Code<\/a>). Present the Kbis, or more precisely the justificatif d’immatriculation (the RCS excerpt, i.e. the Kbis, or the RNE extract, RNE being the registre national des entreprises, the national enterprise register), to the depositary, and the funds are transferred to a current account opened in the company’s name.<\/p>\n From abroad, organise the release before you need the money. Give the depositary a written instruction, signed by the legal representative (representant legal, the person designated by law or by the articles to act for the company), designating the target operating account by its IBAN, and keep proof of dispatch. If the depositary is a notary, the release is usually a simple transfer order once the Kbis arrives by email. If it is a bank where you also applied for the operating account, the release and the account opening often happen in the same appointment, which is another reason to centralise both steps in one establishment when possible. Founders based in Paris and the Ile-de-France region follow the same national procedure, since registration runs through the Guichet unique regardless of the city, but the competent greffe is the one of the registered office: a company seated in Paris is registered with the greffe of the Paris commercial court, and Parisian banks process a high volume of non-resident files, so asking for the advisor who handles international company formations shortens the delays in practice.<\/p>\n If the company is never formed, the law gives subscribers a way out. When the company has not been formed or registered within six months from the first deposit, any subscriber can ask the court to appoint an agent to withdraw the funds and return them to the subscribers, minus distribution costs: “Si la soci\u00e9t\u00e9 n’est pas constitu\u00e9e dans le d\u00e9lai de six mois \u00e0 compter du premier d\u00e9p\u00f4t de fonds ou si elle n’est pas immatricul\u00e9e au registre du commerce et des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s dans le m\u00eame d\u00e9lai, tout souscripteur peut demander en justice la nomination d’un mandataire charg\u00e9 de retirer les fonds pour les restituer aux souscripteurs, sous d\u00e9duction des frais de r\u00e9partition” (article L225-11 of the Commercial Code<\/a>). This six-month safety net matters for founders whose project stalls because the bank account never opens: your capital is not lost, but you must act through the court, which takes time from abroad.<\/p>\n The certificate protects you only for what it states. In a judgment of 4 May 2026, the commercial court of Castres ordered a shareholder to pay 12,000 euros to the liquidator for the unreleased part of the capital, holding that the deposit certificate proved payments by three shareholders but not by her: “Le certificat de d\u00e9p\u00f4t de fonds d\u00e9livr\u00e9 le 26 avril 2019 par la soci\u00e9t\u00e9 g\u00e9n\u00e9rale atteste de versements pour partie de la lib\u00e9ration du capital en num\u00e9raire par les trois actionnaires Messieurs [P] [U], [L] et [Q], mais pas de versement par Madame [O] [R].” The court added that her later transfers to the company, labelled “pour HBO” or “interne”, did not prove capital payment, since those labels did not show the sums were allocated to the release of the capital, and it ordered: “CONDAMNE Madame [O] [R] \u00e0 payer \u00e0 Ma\u00eetre [Y] [J] en sa qualit\u00e9 de mandataire liquidateur de la soci\u00e9t\u00e9 HABITAT BOIS OCCITANIE la somme de 12 000 euros” (Tribunal de commerce de Castres, 4 May 2026, No. 2025000661<\/a>). The legal basis recalled by the court is worth memorising: “Chaque associ\u00e9 est d\u00e9biteur envers la soci\u00e9t\u00e9 de tout ce qu’il a promis de lui apporter en nature, en num\u00e9raire ou en industrie” (article 1843-3 of the Civil Code<\/a>), and once insolvency proceedings open, “Le jugement d’ouverture rend imm\u00e9diatement exigible le montant non lib\u00e9r\u00e9 du capital social” (article L624-20 of the Commercial Code<\/a>). In plain terms: pay the capital through the depositary, keep the certificate, label every later transfer, and never confuse a shareholder loan with a capital payment. On that last distinction, see our analysis of advances from abroad (shareholder loans, interest caps and repayment from abroad<\/a>).<\/p>\n A bank in France may refuse to open an account: no statute obliges a bank to accept every applicant. What the law does instead is give the refused applicant a second path that ends with a bank designated by the Banque de France and obliged to open the account. The right covers any natural or legal person domiciled in France who has no such account: the statute opens the mechanism to “Toute personne physique ou morale domicili\u00e9e en France” and allows a person refused by the bank of its choice to apply to the Banque de France so that it designates a credit institution near its domicile or another place of its choice, within one business day from receipt of the required documents: “En cas de refus de la part de l’\u00e9tablissement choisi d’ouvrir un tel compte \u00e0 l’une des personnes mentionn\u00e9es au I, celle-ci peut saisir la Banque de France afin qu’elle lui d\u00e9signe un \u00e9tablissement de cr\u00e9dit situ\u00e9 \u00e0 proximit\u00e9 de son domicile ou d’un autre lieu de son choix, en prenant en consid\u00e9ration les parts de march\u00e9 de chaque \u00e9tablissement concern\u00e9, dans un d\u00e9lai d’un jour ouvr\u00e9 \u00e0 compter de la r\u00e9ception des pi\u00e8ces requises d\u00e9finies par arr\u00eat\u00e9” (article L312-1 of the Monetary and Financial Code<\/a>). A French company with its registered office (siege social) in France qualifies as a person domiciled in France, and the official business guidance confirms that the procedure applies to professional accounts: after a refusal, the Banque de France designates a bank that must open a professional account in the company’s name, with access to the basic services guaranteed by law (service-public.fr, Compte bancaire professionnel d’une societe<\/a>).<\/p>\n The practical sequence has five steps, and each one must be documented because a missing paper restarts the clock. First, apply for the account in writing, ideally by registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt, and keep the receipt or the counter slip. The Banque de France states that a bank may refuse but must then hand over a standard refusal certificate, the attestation de refus d’ouverture de compte, and that silence for 15 days counts as a refusal (Banque de France, Droit au compte bancaire<\/a>). From abroad, send the registered letter even if you already received an oral refusal at a branch: the paper trail is what the file requires. Second, collect the refusal certificate or prove the 15-day silence with your sent letter and its tracking. Third, file the droit au compte application with the Banque de France, enclosing identification of the legal representative, proof of the company’s existence or formation (draft articles, capital deposit certificate, proof of filing with the Guichet unique), and the refusal evidence. Fourth, the Banque de France designates a bank, normally within one business day of receiving a complete file. Fifth, contact the designated bank with the designation letter and the full know-your-customer file: passport of the director, proof of address abroad with translation if needed, articles, list of beneficial owners (beneficiaires effectifs, the natural persons who ultimately own or control the company, declared in the RBE register), and the capital deposit certificate. Our guide to that declaration explains what to file and when (declaring beneficial owners from abroad<\/a>).<\/p>\n The designated bank cannot treat the designation as optional. In a judgment confirmed on appeal on 21 December 2023, the Versailles Court of Appeal upheld the conviction of a bank designated by the Banque de France that had failed to open the account: “Le tribunal a retenu que le Cr\u00e9dit Agricole d\u00e9sign\u00e9 par la Banque de France pour ouvrir un compte au nom M [E] avait commis une faute en n’y proc\u00e9dant pas dans les trois jours ouvr\u00e9s \u00e0 compter de la r\u00e9ception des justificatifs fournis par ce dernier alors qu’il disposait de l’ensemble des pi\u00e8ces n\u00e9cessaires \u00e0 l’ouverture d’un compte de d\u00e9p\u00f4t en ses livres au nom de M [E]”, and the court closed with “CONFIRME le jugement d\u00e9f\u00e9r\u00e9 en toutes ses dispositions” (Cour d’appel de Versailles, 21 December 2023, No. 22\/05426<\/a>). The first court had ordered the opening under a penalty (astreinte, a daily fine for each day of delay) and awarded 2,000 euros in damages for the harm caused by the refusal. That case concerned an individual account, but the enforcement logic is the same for companies: designation creates an obligation, delay without a legitimate reason is a fault, and the judge can order opening under penalty plus damages. Note the court’s emphasis on the file being complete: the three-business-day count ran from receipt of all supporting documents, so an incomplete KYC file from a non-resident director remains the bank’s easiest lawful reason to wait.<\/p>\n The account obtained through this path carries the basic services defined by decree: “Les prestations de base mentionn\u00e9es au II de l’article L. 312-1 comprennent : 1\u00b0 L’ouverture, la tenue et la cl\u00f4ture du compte ; 2\u00b0 Un changement d’adresse par an ; 3\u00b0 La d\u00e9livrance \u00e0 la demande de relev\u00e9s d’identit\u00e9 bancaire ; 4\u00b0 La domiciliation de virements bancaires ; 5\u00b0 La fourniture mensuelle d’un relev\u00e9 des op\u00e9rations effectu\u00e9es sur le compte ; 6\u00b0 L’encaissement de ch\u00e8ques et de virements bancaires ; 7\u00b0 Les paiements par pr\u00e9l\u00e8vements SEPA, titre interbancaire de paiement SEPA ou par virement bancaire SEPA, ce dernier pouvant \u00eatre r\u00e9alis\u00e9 aux guichets ou \u00e0 distance ; 8\u00b0 Des moyens de consultation \u00e0 distance du solde du compte ; 9\u00b0 Les d\u00e9p\u00f4ts et les retraits d’esp\u00e8ces au guichet ou aux distributeurs automatiques de l’organisme teneur de compte ; 10\u00b0 Une carte de paiement permettant notamment le paiement d’op\u00e9rations sur internet et le retrait d’esp\u00e8ces dans l’Union europ\u00e9enne” (article D312-5 of the Monetary and Financial Code<\/a>). SEPA means the Single Euro Payments Area, the system for euro transfers and direct debits across Europe. For a newly formed company, these services cover the essentials: receiving the released capital, paying suppliers, collecting revenue and consulting the balance online from abroad. One exclusion matters for founders in difficulty: the Banque de France notes that a legal representative subject to a management ban (interdiction de gerer, a court order prohibiting a person from directing a company) cannot use the procedure for a legal entity. If a former venture ended with such a sanction, resolve that point before filing anything in the new company’s name.<\/p>\n The first mistake is stopping at the first refusal. Founders living abroad often interpret one “no” as a verdict on their whole project and either abandon the formation or route money through personal accounts. Both reactions create larger problems. An abandoned capital deposit sits blocked for six months before a court can release it, as article L225-11 provides, and money routed through a personal account looks like a personal asset in any later dispute, while the capital remains legally unpaid with the consequences the Castres judgment illustrated: a liquidator calling the unpaid part years later under article L624-20. The correct reflex after a refusal is administrative, not emotional: request the written refusal certificate on the spot, note the date, and start the Banque de France file the same week. Parallel applications to two or three banks are lawful and often resolve the issue faster than the designation itself, since banks answer a well-documented foreign file better than a bare counter request.<\/p>\n The second mistake is signing commitments for a company that does not legally exist yet. Before registration, the company has no legal personality, and anyone who acts in its name is personally and jointly liable for those acts unless the company, once registered, takes over the commitments: “Les personnes qui ont agi au nom d’une soci\u00e9t\u00e9 en formation avant qu’elle ait acquis la jouissance de la personnalit\u00e9 morale sont tenues solidairement et ind\u00e9finiment responsables des actes ainsi accomplis, \u00e0 moins que la soci\u00e9t\u00e9, apr\u00e8s avoir \u00e9t\u00e9 r\u00e9guli\u00e8rement constitu\u00e9e et immatricul\u00e9e, ne reprenne les engagements souscrits. Ces engagements sont alors r\u00e9put\u00e9s avoir \u00e9t\u00e9 souscrits d\u00e8s l’origine par la soci\u00e9t\u00e9” (article L210-6 of the Commercial Code<\/a>). From abroad, the temptation is strong: sign the Paris office lease now, order stock now, hire now, and regularise later. Every such signature binds you personally if the takeover never happens, for example because the account refusal delayed registration and the lease started anyway. List each pre-registration commitment in an annex to the articles so the takeover covers them, and date nothing as signed “by the company” before the Kbis exists. Acts that must be published or filed cannot be held against third parties or public authorities until the registration formality is done: “La personne assujettie \u00e0 immatriculation ne peut, dans l’exercice de son activit\u00e9, opposer ni aux tiers ni aux administrations publiques, qui peuvent toutefois s’en pr\u00e9valoir, les faits et actes sujets \u00e0 mention que si ces derniers ont \u00e9t\u00e9 publi\u00e9s au registre” (article L123-9 of the Commercial Code<\/a>), which is another reason to complete registration before trading.<\/p>\nB. How do you release the blocked funds with the Kbis once the company is registered?<\/h3>\n
II. What can you do when the bank refuses to open your French company’s account?<\/h2>\n
A. How does the Banque de France designation force a bank to open the account?<\/h3>\n
B. Which mistakes turn a refusal into a frozen company, and how do you prove every payment?<\/h3>\n