The rule that usually decides your choice
French banking for businesses isn't a matter of taste. It starts with your legal structure.
If you register a company with share capital, whether that's a SARL, SAS, EURL or SA, the capital has to be deposited into a business account before the registration is complete. Your provider must be able to issue a RIB and an attestation de dépôt de capital, and some online providers handle this while others simply cannot. Ask before you sign anything.
Sole traders play by a different rulebook. A dedicated account becomes compulsory once your annual turnover has exceeded €10,000 in two consecutive calendar years. Note the wording: two successive years above the threshold, not a running total, and not one good year. Traders selling goods face a separate obligation under the Commercial Code that applies regardless of that threshold, which catches out a fair number of online shop owners.
There's a detail people miss. An account opened for an individual business must carry the designation entrepreneur individuel or EI in its title. A personal current account used quietly for business rarely satisfies that, and your bank's contract may exclude professional use anyway.
Why a French IBAN matters more than the app design
A French IBAN, known locally as a RIB, is what makes your account usable in daily life. Clients set up prélèvements against it, Urssaf collects contributions from it, your accountant reconciles it, and suppliers accept it without questions.
Not every international provider offers one. Wise Business, for example, is excellent for cross-border payments and holds a one-off setup fee of €50, but it does not currently issue a localised French IBAN. For a freelancer billing three European clients that's fine. For a business chasing a French retail chain that pays by direct debit, it's a genuine obstacle.
The second filter is how your provider handles the e-invoicing reform. From 1 September 2026 every company in France must be able to receive electronic invoices through an approved platform, and smaller and micro-enterprises must be able to issue them from 1 September 2027. Providers with an approved platform built into the account save you a separate subscription and a separate login, which matters more than a slightly lower monthly price.
Comparing the realistic options
| Provider | French IBAN | Entry price | Onboarding | Best suited to | Points to check |
|---|
| Qonto | Yes | From €9/month, higher tiers toward €29 and above | 1 to 3 days | SMEs with teams, invoicing and card controls | SWIFT transfers priced separately, no authorised overdraft |
| Shine | Yes | €0 to €9/month entry plans | 1 to 2 days | Freelancers and micro-enterprises | International features are limited |
| Indy | Yes | €0/month plan | 1 to 2 days | Solo trades and liberal professions | Basic feature set, accounting tools bundled |
| Revolut Business | Yes, EUR local details | From around €10/month | 1 to 3 days | Teams working across borders | Chat-only support, inconsistent on complex cases |
| Wise Business | No localised French IBAN | One-off €50 setup, then per-transaction pricing | 1 to 2 days | Exporters, importers, multi-currency work | French clients may refuse the IBAN for direct debits |
| Traditional bank (Crédit Agricole, BNP Paribas, Société Générale) | Yes | Roughly €15 to €30/month plus card and transaction fees | Up to 2 weeks, appointment required | Companies needing credit or capital deposit | Heavier paperwork, slower account opening |
Prices shift with promotions and plan changes, so treat the table as a starting point rather than a quote.
What people actually run into
Sarah, a UK-born UX designer who moved to Lyon, opened a Wise Business account in her first week. It worked well until a regional client asked for her RIB to set up a monthly retainer by direct debit. She kept Wise for euro receipts from Germany and the Netherlands, then added a French-IBAN account for domestic work. Two accounts, one accountant, no drama.
Mehdi sells homeware online from Marseille. His turnover crossed €10,000 two years running, which triggered the dedicated-account obligation, and his activity as a trader pushed it further. He moved from a personal account to an entry-level business plan under €10/month and stopped mixing stock purchases with household spending. His bookkeeping time dropped because his accountant no longer had to untangle the two.
Claire registered a SAS in Nantes and discovered the capital deposit requirement the hard way. Her first choice of provider could issue a RIB but not the attestation banks and registries expect. She switched to one that could, and the registration cleared without a second trip to the greffe.
A checklist before you sign
- Confirm you have your SIREN or SIRET and KBIS ready; online onboarding stalls without them.
- Ask directly whether the provider can issue a RIB that third parties accept, and whether it can support a capital deposit if you're incorporating.
- Test whether French clients can set up a SEPA direct debit mandate against your account.
- Ask what an incoming international transfer costs, not just an outgoing one.
- Check whether the contract permits professional use if you're a sole trader using a personal-style account.
- Look at the e-invoicing platform question now rather than in September.
- Keep your expert-comptable in the loop; most French accountants already have preferred integrations with one or two providers.
Local support helps when something goes wrong. Your local CCI can advise on registration formalities, Bpifrance handles financing questions separately from day-to-day banking, and La French Tech hubs in Paris, Lyon, Bordeaux and Marseille run practical sessions for newcomers. If a bank ever refuses to open an account, French rules on the droit au compte give you a route to escalate through the Banque de France.
Start with the legal requirement, then the IBAN, then the price. Most owners end up with a French-IBAN account for domestic operations and a second multi-currency account for everything beyond the eurozone, and that arrangement tends to hold up well as the business grows.
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