Opening a French business bank account as a non-resident
Publié le 25 septembre 2026.
Dans cet article · 9 parties
You have registered, or are about to register, a company in France. You need a French IBAN, and the guides you have found so far tell you to "compare the options" without giving you a single number you can check.
Here are the numbers, and the one question that decides the answer before price enters into it.
First, the question that eliminates most providers
Will your business handle physical cash or cheques?
If the answer is no, and your clients pay by transfer or card, almost every provider works. The choice then comes down to how many transfers you send.
If the answer is yes, the field collapses. Of the 26 offers we price, only 10 can serve a business that deposits cash at all. Qonto, Indy and Finom do not accept cash deposits in any plan. That is not a fee difference, it is an impossibility, and it is the single most common reason a founder ends up switching within the first year.
Cheques matter for the same reason. Indy does not process them.
Tipping point · Indy Essentiel vs Shine Free
From the very first cheque, Indy Essentiel stops being an option: cheque deposits are not offered.
| Monthly volume | Cheaper |
|---|---|
| up to 0 cheque | Indy Essentiel — €72 a year apart |
| from 1 cheque | Shine Free — the other is ruled out: cheque deposits are not offered |
Calculated on published fee schedules surveyed on 25 September 2026. Fixed assumptions: €0 in cash a month, 20 transfers a month.
The legal question nobody answers: can a non-resident open one?
Yes, and it is worth knowing exactly where you stand, because this is where foreign founders lose the most time.
Qonto, Shine, Indy and Finom are not banks. They are payment institutions (établissements de paiement), which means they are subject to anti-money-laundering obligations and may refuse or close an account without giving a reason. Foreign shareholding, an address outside France or a cross-border activity all raise the probability of a review.
The part that is almost never mentioned: France has a statutory fallback. The droit au compte procedure lets the Banque de France designate a bank that must open an account for you. It applies to professionals and to legal entities, companies and associations included. And the Banque de France states explicitly that holding a payment account with a payment institution or e-money institution "ne fait pas obstacle à l'exercice du droit au compte". Holding a Qonto or Shine account does not disqualify you.
What you need: a written refusal from a bank, or no answer at all, and no existing deposit account in your own name. The designation is free.
So a refusal from an online provider is a delay, not a dead end. Budget for it rather than panicking about it.
What it actually costs
Published prices are close to meaningless here, because the entry plans cluster around €9 excl. VAT a month and diverge sharply on how you get paid.
Tipping point · Shine Free vs Qonto Basic
Shine Free is cheaper up to 27 transfers a month. Beyond that, Qonto Basic takes the lead.
| Monthly volume | Cheaper |
|---|---|
| up to 27 transfers | Shine Free — €108 a year apart |
| from 28 transfers | Qonto Basic — €2 a year apart |
Calculated on published fee schedules surveyed on 25 September 2026. Fixed assumptions: €0 in cash a month, 0 cheques a month.
That threshold is the one most foreign founders get wrong. A free plan is free up to a volume you can name. Past it, the paid plan is cheaper.
If you do take cash, the arithmetic reverses completely. Neobanks charge a percentage of every euro deposited, up to 4 %; traditional banks charge a subscription and, in some cases, a flat fee per deposit.
Tipping point · Shine Free vs BNP Paribas Pro
Shine Free is cheaper up to €266 in cash a month. Beyond that, BNP Paribas Pro takes the lead.
| Monthly volume | Cheaper |
|---|---|
| up to €266 in cash | Shine Free — ≤ €128 a year apart |
| from €267 in cash | BNP Paribas Pro — within a few cents |
Caveat: movement commission (de 0,06 % à 0,10 % par mois, plafond 230 € par mois) cannot be modelled from the volumes entered. Totals are floors.
Calculated on published fee schedules surveyed on 25 September 2026. Fixed assumptions: 5 cheques a month, 20 transfers a month.
The trap in the word "free"
Three of the 26 offers we survey advertise €0 a month. Each becomes payable at a different point: number of transfers, value transferred, or whether you take cash at all.
An offer that cannot do what your business needs is not cheap, it is unusable. We remove it from the ranking and say why, rather than showing it at the top with a zero next to it.
What to check before you sign
- Cash and cheques. Ask in writing whether they are accepted and at what rate. Three of the four best-known providers do not accept cash.
- The fees that are not on the page. French network banks charge a commission de mouvement, a percentage of debit flows, which almost never appears in a comparison table. Our totals carry a "≥" wherever we could not price a fee that is published but not modellable. We would rather show an incomplete figure honestly than a complete one we invented.
- The transfer quota. Entry plans include between 5 and 30 SEPA transfers a month. Past the quota, the per-transfer fee decides the annual bill.
- Whether the provider is a bank. None of the online players is. There is no overdraft and no lending; funds are held at a partner bank.
Where these figures come from
Every number on this page comes from a fee schedule published by the institution itself, surveyed on a stated date, with one source URL per observation. The full dataset is open under CC BY 4.0: observatoire.json and cout-par-profil.json.
Prices change. The survey date is on every figure precisely so you can check whether it still holds.
Limits
We have not tested onboarding times, support quality or how any of these providers treats a non-resident file in practice. This page compares published fee schedules and states French banking rules; it is not legal or tax advice, and it does not recommend a product for your situation. For company formation or tax questions, use a professional.
Sources
- chiffrepro survey of 25 September 2026, every observation sourced: observatoire.json.
- Banque de France, Faire valoir votre droit au compte bancaire.
Frequently asked questions
Can I open a French business account without living in France?
Yes. Several online providers onboard remotely, and the droit au compte procedure applies to companies registered in France regardless of where the director lives. Identity and beneficial-ownership checks are stricter, and some providers require a registered office in France.
Which French business accounts accept cash deposits?
On our survey, 10 of 26 offers can serve a business that deposits cash. Qonto, Indy and Finom accept none in any plan. Shine accepts cash at 2 % to 4 % of the amount, capped monthly. Network banks accept it under different terms, sometimes a flat fee per deposit rather than a percentage.
Is Qonto a bank?
No. Qonto is a payment institution, as are Shine, Finom and Indy. None offers an authorised overdraft or a classic business loan. Client funds are held at a partner bank, which gives indirect deposit protection.
What happens if my account application is refused?
A refusal from an online provider is not the end of the road. With a written refusal from a bank, you can ask the Banque de France to designate one under the droit au compte procedure. It is free, and it applies to companies and associations.