cyrian

Information regarding banking in France may vary from bank to bank.
It is possible to open a bank account in France even if you are non-resident.
You can open an account in France if you are resident in the UK; Ireland or France.
You can be an existing property or future property owner or regular visitor to France.
You will need to provide personal details for each applicant including:

Occupation details
Annual income (possibly annual tax paid)
Value of property (UK and French)
Proof of identity - Passport and Photocard driving licence
Proof of address - Utility bill; bank statement; copy of P60
Evidence of income
a) if employed - copies of last 3 months payslips.
b) If self-employed - Copy of most recent SA302 showing income declared and tax due.
c) If retired - Most recent pension statement and/or income from investments.
Bank statements - copies of last 2 consequent months bank statements.
It is best to have original birth certificates and marriage certificate.
You may have to pay an annual charge for each debit card.
You may have to pay a monthly charge for a current account.
Bank cards normally have a weekly and monthly limit.
Cheques are still commonly used in France.

Additions and corrections welcome

InVinoVeritas

If you have an HSBC Premier account somewhere in the world then you don't need to do any of that. Just contact your relationship manager where your main account is held and ask them to open an account for you at the HSBC branch you prefer in France. You will automatically become an HSBC Premier customer at that branch and you will be able to make transfers between your accounts in the different countries free of charge.

bigglesworth

Cyrian very comprehensive. Well done.

If I could suggest residency MAY be proved by an attestation from the Mairie (mine was). But it clearly depends on how co-operative your bank is feeling.
As we all know, you have to go armed with every imaginable piece of paper.

bigglesworth

Cyrian if you are thinking of the updated sticky, should ww think of dividing into sections? e.g. t

Travel
Airports
https://www.google.com/maps/d

Trains
The Man in Seat Sixty-One - the train travel guide...
https://www.captaintrain.com/en
SNCF - Trains, Services, Entreprises, Emploi | SNCF

etc

EuroTrash

However you do need to be pretty well heeled to have an HSBC Premier account - it's not for the likes of me When I was looking into French bank accounts somebody suggested this to me so I went in to chat to HSBC. My mind started to glaze over when the account manager started to explain the minimum monthly income required - it was more than I earned in a year. I smiled confidently and said 'oh that's no problem I can arrange that', and as soon as I got out of the bank I stuffed my application pack into the nearest litter bin. Of course that was 10+ years ago so they may be more inclusive now.

InVinoVeritas

It's true that you need to have a minimum average balance which varies from country to country, but this will include any investment portfolios you hold with HSBC. In the UK the minimum balance is £60K. If you meet this minimum balance then you don't need to have a minimum income.

Given the benefits of their Global Internet banking system it seems a pretty interesting deal for anyone who is thinking of moving to France but really I just wanted to point out that someone who already has such an account will not need to go through the hassle which Cyrian has so helpfully described.

cyrian

Absolutely

EuroTrash

Yes quite.
One of the challenges of this sticky is going to be making it relevant to the entire spectrum of readers - from people with three figure salaries and the odd 60k tucked away for a rainy day, to people like me that come here on a wing and a prayer.

Cyrian - one thing that might be useful to mention is the M ou Mme / M et Mme issue. I don't actually know if this still does cause problems ever, but it used to happen that some people inadvertently had their accounts set up such that every cheque needed to be signed by both of them, rather than one or the other.

Novocastrian

I've posted this before, so I apologise for that, but that is what we did, I think in 2007. We opened an HSBC Premier account in Canada by transferring $100k of the OH's retirement saving into HSBC managed investment accounts and then opened accounts first in France and then later in the UK, at no cost. As you said, Global Transfer between these accounts is free.

Agreed. I nominate dmu to sort it all out.

EuroTrash

+1

Chatter Static

I sugest we have one thread with links to all the threads we are we are using to pencil a new FAQ thread together with that way crap won't get too jumbled up initially. There is a fair bit of ground to cover considering all the different areas of bureaucracy encountered with life here. Most of which goes right over my head but you lot tend to know how to manage day to day stuff here...

Then once we have enough info the relevant post could be merged into one thread or it could remain as links to the threads within this section. trimming out any banter from those threads so they remain relevant and concise. People tend to get bored if they have too much information.

dmu

"Accept my thanks for the compliment you are paying me.... I am very sensible of the honour of your proposals, but it is impossible for me to do otherwise than decline them."

Without false modesty, I would be incapable of doing this, I'm an absolute Dummy in forum M.O.s and terminology.
But thank you all for the compliment!

Novocastrian

Oh, G'wan. You know you want to.

dmu

I'd dearly like to, but I'm technically incapable....

cyrian

I think that is what I suggested in post #31 here http://britishexpats.com/forum/franc.../#post11777335