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🏦 The Best Banks in France: Open an Account in 10 Minutes





Opening a bank account in France can seem daunting, especially for expats and newcomers. Between the different types of accounts, the paperwork, and the language barrier, it can be difficult to know where to start. However, having a bank account is essential for managing your finances in France, and it’s not as difficult as it may seem. In this article, we will explain to you how to open a bank account in France quickly, and we will show you a selection of the best banks in France.

🇪🇺 Why Having a Bank Account in France

To pay your home internet, mobile plan, electricity bill, or receive your monthly pay, you will need to have a bank account that has 🇪🇺 EU IBAN (International Bank Account Number).

⚠️ Some services may require a 🇫🇷 French IBAN though.

🛒 Ways to Pay in France

In France, we pay more and more by card. However, it is not rare to find shops, bars, or restaurants that apply a minimum amount to spend to pay by card. So, you would sometimes need to withdraw money at the ATM to pay by cash.

🏦 Which Bank to Choose

You have just decided to sign up to a bank in France. Great! I have tested many French banks and I selected for you the best banks in France with these criteria:

  • 🇪🇺 EU IBAN: they have at least an EU or a French IBAN
  • 🤑 Good pricing: from 0€/month
  • ✍️ Easy registration: the documents needed are reduced to the minimum for the mobile banks
  • 💳 Debit card or deferred debit card
  • 💸 Free € wire transfer
  • 👍 Great user experience

Now, you will need to answer a few questions, so I can show you a selection of the best banks based on your needs. Let’s go!

💳 Select the card type you want to have*
💳 Debit card
💳 Deferred debit card
* Debit card: money is withdrawn immediately from your bank account
Deferred debit card: money will be withdrawn from your bank account at a defined date, every month, and free of charge. Sometimes needed to rent a car.
Select all the options you want to have in a bank
🇫🇷 French IBAN
🛍️ Virtual card*
🧧 Savings account
🏦 Bank branch
🔻 Bank overdraft
💰 Loan
🏠 Mortgage
💹 Multi-currency account
🏳️ Multiple local account details
* A virtual card is a digital card to make online purchases. You can create/delete a virtual card anytime in the mobile application.
🎉 The filtered results:

Revolut Logo 🇫🇷💳🛍️🧧💰💹
✍️ revolut.com only
10 min
💰 From 0€/month
🇫🇷 French IBAN
💳 Debit card
🛍️ Up to 5 virtual cards
🏧 Free ATM withdrawals (limit)
💱 Free payments worldwide (limit)
🏆 The best all-in-one money app

wise logo 💳🛍️🧧💹🏳️
✍️ wise.com only
10 min
💰 0€/month
🇧🇪 BE IBAN
🏳️ 10 local accounts (🇺🇸/🇨🇦/etc)
💳 Debit card (7€)
🛍️ Up to 3 virtual cards
🏧 Free € ATM withdrawals (limit)
💸 Send money abroad for cheap
💡 Easy to register from 🇺🇸/🇧🇷

n26 logo 🇫🇷💳🛍️
✍️ n26.com only
10 min
💰 From 0€/month
🇫🇷 French IBAN
💳 Debit card (10€)
🛍️ Up to 1 virtual card
🏧 Free € ATM withdrawals (limit)
💱 Free payments worldwide
🌍 Cheap bank to pay worldwide

Boursorama Banque Logo 🇫🇷💳🧧🔻💰🏠
✍️ boursorama-banque.com only
Few days
💰 From 0€/month
🇫🇷 French IBAN
💳 Premium debit/deferred debit card
🏧 Free ATM withdrawals (limit)
💱 Free payments worldwide
🔻 Up to 2,500€ bank overdraft
🧳 Travel insurance included
💪 Bank with a free premium card

sg logo 🇫🇷💳🧧🏦🔻💰🏠
✍️ sg.fr, SG bank branches
Few days
💰 From 3€/month
🇫🇷 French IBAN
💳 Debit/deferred debit card
📲 Traditional bank with the best app

Conclusion

To summarize:

  • Revolut Logo (revolut.com) is my number 🥇 recommendation. It has the best user experience, and a lot of perks included such as a French IBAN, a free debit card, an instant wire transfer, and no currency exchange fees.
  • If you are from the 🇺🇸 US or 🇧🇷 Brazil, wise logo (wise.com) can be opened from your home country, so you won’t need to rush to open a bank account when you come to France. It is also a great tool if you make a lot of wire transfers in different currencies.

Now, you know which bank to register to. Hope you will have an easy registration!

5 replies on “🏦 The Best Banks in France: Open an Account in 10 Minutes”

Any of these banks accepted as French Bank account when we transfer funds for purchasing a property in France?

Hello Jinny,
Yes, except Wise.
I don’t know if you plan paying by cash or having a mortgage, but if you plan to have a mortgage with a French bank, it will be mandatory to have a bank account with them, as they will open a new bank account to get the fund back every month.
If you just pay by cash, and the notary said that it is mandatory to have a French bank account, you would better have a bank which can help you transfer huge amount of money, as the banks I show are mostly online banks.
Tell me if you have any questions.

Both my partner and myself purchased properties (2018, 2021 and 2023) in France and used Wise to pay the full amounts. There were checks, by Wise, to see where the money was coming from. Other than that it was hassle free.

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