Foreign banks contact clients in France over new rules limiting services provided to EU residents

Questions are being raised about the impact of new EU banking regulations and how they could affect the ability of non-EU banks to offer services to EU residents.

Several readers say banks in the Channel Islands have advised them they are reviewing the possible impact of the Capital Requirements Directive VI (CRD VI). 

However banks elsewhere outside the EU are also potentially affected, eg. in the UK or US.

The law, passed in 2024, tightens EU banking rules, including for non-EU banks seeking to provide 'core services' – such as lending and deposit-taking – to EU customers unless this is provided via a regulated EU branch. Examples of the latter might include, eg. Barclays Ireland, JP Morgan’s European arm JPMSE, or Dublin-based Bank of American DAC.

Some emails conveyed a sense of urgency, referring to changes potentially taking effect from January 2026 – the deadline for EU countries, including France, to transpose into national law CRD VI’s article 21c on the activities of non-EU banks.

We have seen, for example, one from Skipton International in Guernsey, which said the new rules may "limit how non-EU banks can offer core banking services such as savings accounts and mortgages to EU residents". 

However from our research, the rules do not have to be enforced until January 11, 2027. What is more, France has not met the transposition deadline. It may have been missed amid the recent political instability, which also saw France fail to pass the 2026 budget on time.

However, if the rules are transposed and enforced as expected, EU member states such as France would be required to prohibit certain banking services from being provided in their territory by third-country banks or large investment firms, unless they operate through a locally licensed branch or qualify for a specific exemption.

This raises questions about the potential impact on people such as Britons or Americans moving to, or living in, France, who often maintain accounts in their country of origin.

We contacted several major UK and US banks. Most UK banks did not respond, though TSB stated there was no impact on it as it "does not provide any core banking services in the EU - UK only". 

A source at one US bank said it was “too early to tell what the implications are really going to be and we are assessing it internally”.

They added: “There is not a lot of clarity around the implementation guidelines right now, but there will be no effect until January next year.”

Industry representatives in the UK say the new rules allow non-EU banks to provide core banking services either through a local EU presence – a branch or subsidiary – or via what the directive terms “reverse solicitation”.

Core banking services include, for example, accepting deposits and lending, including consumer credit or mortgages.

While this may sound worrying for people such as residents of France who hold accounts abroad, the UK experts said the directive is not expected to affect contracts entered into up to six months before July 11, 2026. So, this means maintaining an existing UK current or savings account, or mortgage, while living in France should be unaffected.

Looking ahead, the “reverse solicitation” rule may also soften the impact, it is thought. 

Under this provision, non-EU banks must not actively market services to people in the EU, but may be able to provide services where a customer approaches them on their own initiative.

A spokesperson for French industry body the Fédération Bancaire Francaise gave the following statement in response to our queries: "The European text and the French transposition text do not aim to impose new restrictions on the activities of foreign banks from third countries within the EU. 

"The French banking sector will continue to carry out banking transactions with banks from third countries. It should be noted that France has already had a system in place since 2015 that is very similar to that provided for in Article 21c of CRD6."

She added: "Transposition has been delayed and is not expected before February, once the texts have been reviewed by the Conseil d'Etat. Its provisions are therefore not applicable before transposition.

"Apart from timing issues, CRD6 should not impose any additional restrictions to those already in place, particularly with regard to deposits and mortgage loans (in France, these were already prohibited without prior authorisation, prior to CRD6). 

"It should be noted, however, that through the mechanism known as ‘reverse solicitation’, a customer residing in France could open an account with a third-country bank or apply for a mortgage from that bank, subject to compliance with the exacting conditions laid down in the text to prevent circumvention of the regulations."