What French rules actually require from you
The legal picture is less uniform than most guides suggest. A company such as a SARL or SAS must hold a bank account in its own name. An entrepreneur individuel running a commercial activity is also required to open an account at a credit institution. Micro-entrepreneurs get more room: a dedicated account becomes mandatory only after turnover has exceeded €10,000 in two consecutive calendar years.
That dedicated account does not strictly have to be a product labelled "professional". It has to be separate from your personal spending and able to carry your name alongside the mention "Entrepreneur individuel" or "EI". In practice, most banks restrict personal current accounts to non-business use, which pushes sole traders toward a business plan anyway.
If a bank turns you down, it must give you a written refusal. That letter lets you ask the Banque de France to designate an institution under the droit au compte procedure. Worth knowing before you assume a rejection ends your options.
Three frictions that send owners searching
The first is document collection. Providers ask for an extract of your company registration, known as a Kbis, or your SIREN number for a sole trader, plus ID and proof of address dated within the last three months. A domiciliation service, common among e-commerce sellers and consultants working from coworking spaces, sometimes raises questions that a utility bill would not.
The second is pricing opacity. Walk into a branch in Lyon or Bordeaux and you may hear "from €22 to €30 per month" without clarity on card fees, transfer charges, or what happens when you need an overdraft.
The third is cross-border money. French businesses invoice UK, German, and US clients constantly. Traditional accounts often apply currency margins in the range of 1.5% to 3% on top of transfer fees, and those costs rarely appear on the headline tariff.
What the online options cost
Pricing below reflects published provider tariffs and comparison data for the French market. Treat the ranges as a starting point, not a quote.
| Provider | Monthly fee | French IBAN | Typical opening time | Best suited to | Points to check |
|---|
| Qonto | from €9 excl. VAT | Yes | 1–3 days | Companies of any legal form, teams | Higher tiers add approvals and accounting tools |
| Shine | from €7 | Yes | 1–2 days | Sole traders, very small firms | Fewer features for multi-person teams |
| Revolut Business | entry plan to €100+ | Yes | 1–3 days | International payments, cards | Currency and plan limits vary by tier |
| Wise Business | no monthly subscription, per-transaction pricing | Yes | 1–2 days | Freelancers paid in several currencies | Not a full banking relationship |
| Airwallex | from €0, FX from around 0.5% | Yes | 1–3 days | E-commerce, cross-border trade | Built around payments rather than credit |
| BNP Paribas | from around €25 | Yes | Several days to 2 weeks | Businesses wanting a branch and credit | In-person appointment usually needed |
| Société Générale | from around €22 | Yes | 1–2 weeks | SMEs needing overdraft facilities | Digital tools feel dated to some users |
| Crédit Agricole | roughly €20–30, regional variation | Yes | Up to 2 weeks | Local businesses, cheques, financing | Tariffs differ by regional caissse |
| La Banque Postale | roughly €10–15 | Yes | Over a week | Simple day-to-day accounts | Limited international capability |
Matching the account to your actual business
A freelance consultant billing French clients. Shine and Qonto Basic cover the essentials: a French IBAN, one card, SEPA transfers, and receipts you can export to your accountant. A Lyon-based illustrator, let us call her Sarah, moved from a branch account after realising she was paying for cheque services she used twice a year. Her monthly cost dropped, and her bookkeeping exports stopped arriving as PDFs by email.
A small SAS with three or four staff. The deciding features become spending controls, virtual cards per employee, and an approval flow before payments leave. Qonto's mid-tier plans and Revolut Business both address this. Compare what each charges for extra users, since that line item grows faster than the base subscription.
An online shop selling outside France. Wise Business and Airwallex handle multi-currency balances and local receiving accounts, which matters when you are paid in dollars, pounds, and zloty in the same week. Watch the conversion spread rather than the monthly fee, because at volume the spread usually costs more.
A business that needs credit or cash deposits. Keep a traditional relationship. Online providers rarely lend, and cash handling varies. Many owners run both: a branch account for financing and a neobank for daily operations. Doing so costs an extra monthly fee, so only worth it if you genuinely need an overdraft or a loan.
One practical detail French owners consistently overlook: cheques. French clients, particularly in construction, hospitality, and the trades, still pay by cheque. Confirm your provider accepts cheque deposits and how long clearing takes, or you will be sending clients back to the post office.
A sequence that avoids rework
Start by writing down your legal form, expected monthly transaction count, currencies received, and whether you need team cards. That four-line brief eliminates half the market immediately.
Then gather documents before applying: company registration extract or SIREN proof, director ID, proof of address under three months old, and your business plan if the provider asks for one. Missing a document is the single most common cause of a stalled application.
Next, check the accounting connection. Most French firms use Pennylane, Tiime, or Sage, and the provider's integration list is published. An account that requires manual CSV uploads will cost you hours every month.
Finally, run a small test. Send a SEPA transfer, receive one, and contact support with a real question before you commit to a paid tier. Response time tells you more than any review page.
Do keep personal and business flows apart from the first invoice, even if the law does not yet require it for your turnover level. Mixing them creates accounting clean-up work that costs more than a subscription.
Your next step can be small: shortlist two providers against that four-line brief, check which documents each requires, and apply to one this week. Opening a French business account online now takes days, not the month it once did, and the difference in annual cost between a careless choice and a considered one is often several hundred euros.
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