Many French bank transfers delayed for four days over Christmas
European-wide closure of systems mean payments will not go through until December 28 at the earliest
Certain payments will be limited over the holiday season
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French bank account holders are being reminded that most bank payments to other accounts will be unavailable for four consecutive days over the Christmas period this year, due to a delay from European-wide holiday shutdown of the payment system.
On December 25 to 26, standard payments (virements) in France and other eurozone countries will be unavailable as they will not be processed in the shutdown. This will follow onto December 27 and 28 (Saturday and Sunday), over the weekend when the system is usually down.
Account holders will need to plan ahead to make payments to ensure they reach their destination on time.
Payments made after 16:30 on December 24 will not go through until Monday, December 29 at the earliest.
System closes throughout year
The closure is not exceptional for this year, and usually takes place on December 25 and 26.
Christmas is a public holiday across the continent, and many countries – but only three departments in France (Bas-Rhin, Haut-Rhin, and Moselle) – celebrate December 26 as a public holiday too.
The closure is longer this year because December 25 and 26 fall directly before the weekend.
During these days, the Target 2 system used to enable payments between different European bank accounts will be offline.
In 2026 this will also occur on Thursday, January 1, with the system likewise down for the continent-wide public holiday. The same applies for the four-day Easter weekend (Friday, April 3 to Monday, April 6) and Friday, May 1.
Some payment options available
It is worth noting that not all payments are affected by this.
Bank cards can still be used to pay for items at shops and online (although money may not be debited from accounts until Monday, December 28).
In addition, payments made using the instant transfer method are unaffected, as these use a different payment system than Target 2.
Finally, transfers between accounts of the same bank (either held by the same person such as a current account and Livret A savings account or two separate accounts) are unaffected as internal systems are used.
In this case, payments will still go through, although may face some of their own delays.
