Banking in France as a Brit: opening an account in Paris and keeping your UK one

In Paris almost everything runs on a French bank account, so getting one sorted is job number one after finding somewhere to live.

The short version

• French life runs on the RIB (relevé d'identité bancaire), the slip with your French account details. Landlords, employers, energy firms and the tax office all ask for it.
• Banks will want your passport, a recent proof of address in France and evidence of your income or status. Proof of address is the classic chicken-and-egg problem for newcomers.
• If banks turn you down, the droit au compte lets the Banque de France name a bank that must open a basic account for you, free of charge [1][2].
• Keep your UK account: your State Pension can still be paid in pounds, or straight into a French account after a 0.39% conversion charge [4].
• Once you're tax resident in France, every account you hold abroad, including your UK current account, must be declared on form 3916 each year. The fine for leaving one off is EUR 1,500 (about £1,250) per account [3].

Pound conversions use the Bank of England spot rate of 5 November 2026 (£1 = EUR 1.20).

Why you need a French account (and quickly)

Back home in Blighty you can live for years on one current account and a debit card. In Paris the RIB is the key to everything. Your landlord or letting agent will usually ask for one with your rental application. EDF or another energy supplier, your internet provider and your mobile network take payment by direct debit (prélèvement) from a French or eurozone account. Your employer pays salaries into it, the CAF pays family benefits into it, and the tax office takes income tax from it each month.

A UK account won't do these jobs, and some French firms and offices simply won't take a non-French IBAN, even though they're supposed to accept accounts in the SEPA area. Arguing the toss with a call centre in French is not how you want to spend your first month.

Plenty of newcomers open an account with an online bank first, because it can be done from a phone. That's fine as a stopgap, but check it gives you a French IBAN (starting FR). High-street banks are slower to open with but handy if you'll want a mortgage or someone to talk to face to face.

The documents banks ask for

French banks follow EU anti-money-laundering rules, so expect more questions than you'd get opening an account in the UK.

The proof-of-address problem is real: you need a bank account to get a flat, and a flat to get a bank account. Ways round it:

1. Use your home insurance certificate. You'll need assurance habitation for any rental anyway, and the certificate counts as proof of address [2].
2. Ask your host for an attestation d'hébergement. If you're in a friend's spare room or a short-let while you hunt, a signed statement from the person you're staying with plus their ID and a bill in their name is accepted for the droit au compte, and many banks take it too [2].
3. Ask your employer. Many employers in Paris that hire from abroad help with a letter, and some have a relationship with a particular bank.

If your French is shaky, take someone with you: the contract and fee schedule (conditions tarifaires) will be in French.

If the bank says no: the droit au compte

French law gives a right to a bank account, and it's a good safety net. It's open to anyone domiciled in France, whatever their nationality, as long as they don't already hold a French account [1]. It's also open to foreign nationals legally resident in another EU country, which since Brexit doesn't help Brits still living in the UK. You need to be living in France to use it.

How it works [1][2]:

1. Ask a bank to open an account. If it refuses, it must give you a refusal letter. If it doesn't answer within 15 days, that counts as a refusal.
2. Send a file to the Banque de France online, at a branch or by post: the application form, the refusal letter (or proof you asked more than 15 days ago), your ID, proof of address under three months old, and a sworn statement that you have no other French account.
3. The Banque de France names a bank within one working day of getting a complete file. The designation lasts six months [1].
4. The bank must send you its list of documents within three working days and open the account within three working days of getting them all [1].

What you get is a basic account with the essentials, free of charge: a card, a RIB, direct debits, SEPA transfers, deposits and withdrawals at the counter, a monthly statement and online balance checks [1]. Charges for problems such as a bounced payment are capped at EUR 4 (about £3.35) a time and EUR 20 (about £17) a month [1]. It's no-frills, but it's enough to pay rent and bills while you sort out something better.

Keeping your UK account going

Don't close your UK account the week you arrive at the Gare du Nord. A UK account is useful for:

• the State Pension and workplace or private pensions paid in pounds
• rent from a UK property, and HMRC payments or refunds
• UK direct debits, subscriptions and anything that needs a UK sort code

The catch is that some UK banks don't like customers who live abroad and may close accounts once they know you've moved. Our guide to keeping a UK bank account when you live abroad covers what tends to survive and what to do about a UK address.

Your State Pension into a French account

DWP will pay your State Pension into a bank in the country where you live or into a UK bank or building society [4]. For a French account you give the IBAN and BIC. The money is converted at the rate on the day, with a 0.39% conversion charge, and you can choose to be paid every 4 or 13 weeks [4]. France is in the EEA, so your State Pension still goes up every April. Some people prefer to be paid in the UK and move the money themselves; either works.

Declaring your UK accounts to the French taxman

This is the one that catches Brits out. Once you're tax resident in France, you must declare every bank account you opened, held, used or closed abroad during the year, one form per account, alongside your income tax return [3]. That includes:

• your UK current and savings accounts, including joint accounts
• ISAs and other savings or investment accounts held abroad
• life insurance and similar contracts taken out abroad
• digital asset (crypto) accounts with foreign providers [3]

The form is 3916 (with 3916-bis for digital assets). If you file online on impots.gouv.fr, you fill it in online too [3]. A narrow exemption covers foreign accounts linked to a French account and used only for online shopping payments or receipts, as long as receipts stay under EUR 10,000 (about £8,330) a year [3]. Your ordinary UK current account isn't that.

The penalties are steep for something that's only a form [3]:

Tax on income linked to an undeclared account can also face a surcharge of up to 80% [3]. The UK and France swap account information automatically, so the safest assumption is that the French tax office already knows. Our guide to French taxes for Brits covers the bigger picture, and a tax adviser who knows both countries can check your situation.

Moving money from the UK

Sending money between the UK and France is one of the first things you'll do, and one of the easiest places to lose money without noticing.

• Compare the total cost. The FCA points out that a firm's exchange rate often includes a mark-up, and that "no fee" can hide one. Look at how many euros actually arrive [5].
• Big sums need planning. On a property purchase through the notaire, a small difference in the rate matters a lot, and you'll be asked where the money came from.
• Keep a paper trail. Sale documents for a UK house, pension statements and savings statements speed up anti-money-laundering checks.

Our guide to sending money between the UK and abroad sets out the options without naming any firm.

Day-to-day banking in Paris

• Cheques aren't dead. Some landlords, doctors and schools still take them, so a chequebook is worth having, a bit like going back to the 1990s.
• Overdrafts (découvert) need agreeing in advance; going over without one means fees and, at worst, a ban on writing cheques.

Banking questions come up all the time in our community group for Brits in France, from which banks are easiest for newcomers to how long the RIB takes to arrive.

Sources

1. Service-Public.fr: Refus d'ouverture de compte bancaire, droit au compte (checked 19 October 2026)
2. Banque de France: Les bénéficiaires de la procédure de droit au compte
3. impots.gouv.fr: Notice for form 3916 / 3916-bis, declaring accounts and contracts held abroad
4. GOV.UK: State Pension if you retire abroad – how you're paid
5. FCA: International payment pricing transparency – good and poor practice (1 May 2025)

Keep reading

• French admin for Brits: CAF, impots.gouv and the RIB
• French taxes for Brits: the UK link and your State Pension
• Keeping a UK bank account when you live abroad
• Sending money between the UK and abroad