Eckert Law (Inactive Accounts)

French Eckert law n°2014-617 of 13th June, 2014 about inactive accounts has entered into force on the 1st January, 2016. It concerns both individuals and legal persons.

Inactive account: A banking account is considered as inactive if it meets the following cumulative conditions:

• for 12 months, or 5 years in case of term account, it has not witnessed any transaction other than interest and fees or commissions of all kinds or payment or repayment of capital or debt securities;
• and the account holder, his legal representative or the person duly empowered did not enter into contact with the bank by any means and has not made any transaction of any kind on this bank account or another account open in the books of the bank.

Inactive account: what consequences?

In the absence of reactivation of the account, the funds will have to be transferred to the “Caisse des dépôts et des consignations” after a period of 10 years as from the last registered operation or contact, or 3 years as from the date of the death of the account holder. The funds are only retained: they can be refunded to their owner during 20 years (or 27 years in the case of the death of the account holder). Over 30 years, the funds will become the property of the French State and will therefore be definitely irrecoverable.

After having sent a first correspondence to inform the client or his heir(s) about the inactivity of the account, the bank has to remind him annually about his situation, and how to reactivate it. Then, the account holder will be informed about the upcoming transfer 6 months before the deadline.

Inactive account: how to reactivate it?

There are two solutions to reactivate an inactive account in order to avoid the transfer of its credit balance to the “Caisse des dépôts et des consignations”:

• one operation on the account initiated by the account holder, the legal representative or an authorized person,
• a contact such as an e-mail, or a phone call.

Inactive account: what cost?

Inactive account holding fee are limited to 30 EUR per year (amount fixed by French Arrêté in force on the 1st January, 2016).

For further information, we invite you to consult French Eckert Law n°2014-617 of 13 June, 2014 and the related French “Décret d’application n°2015-1092” of 28th August, 2015, on www.legifrance.gouv.fr. To serve you better, please find here a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) document that can provide general answers to your questions.
Please note that we are unable to offer you any tax advice. For tax related questions, we suggest you contact your professional tax advisor or visit the IRS website.

Personal Data Protection

In order to carry out its banking activity and satisfy your needs, Banque SBA is required to collect and manage some of your personal data such as your first names, names, addresses or nationality.

Within the framework of a new European regulation GDPR, Banque SBA guarantees your new rights in the field of the protection of personal data and implements actions so that you can exercise them simply.

From now on you have the right to access, modify, delete, and limit the use of your data and you have the right to the portability of your personal data.
At any time, and without any charge, you can ask the bank not to use your data for commercial purposes, in particular to offer you new services.

A person in charge of client data protection has been appointed by the bank. To exercise your rights or to have more information, you can contact her by e-mail at the following address conformite@eblf-sbaparis.com or by mail to:
Banque SBA
(To the kind attention of the Compliance Department)
68 Avenue des Champs-Élysées
75008 PARIS - FRANCE

See our Personal data protection policy and our Responsibility charter for personal data.

Cookie Policy

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A cookie is a small file holding a modest amount of data to be identified by a name and that can be sent from a website to the web browser. Your web browser will store it for a certain period of time and will resend it to the web server each time you log in.

Cookies are stored on your computer’s hard disk and can be read and updated each time you log in. A cookie cannot be used to collect data stored in the hard disk nor to obtain your email or any other information related to your private life (other than the data you provide us with).

Declaration related to cookies, updated on the 01.10.2018 by banque-sba.com:

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Managing Cookies in Your Browser

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For further information on how cookies work and about targeted ads, you can visit:

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FGDR

Created by law, the Fonds de Garantie des Dépôts et de Résolution FGDR compensates depositors, for an amount up to €100,000 per person, per institution, when a banking institution fails. A guarantee that benefits all bank customers, private individuals, businesses of any size, associations. Click here for more information.

Download the Brochure of presentation of the FGDR activities.

Banking Mobility

A short information regarding bank mobility formalities as of February 6th, 2017 (Art. L. 312-1-7 and R. 312-4-4 of the French Financial and Monetary Code).

Banking mobility formalities are free of charge and applicable to private individuals. They are proposed by banks located in France to simplify changes of bank domiciliation for direct debits and recurring transfers. This refers to transactions of the same amount transferred to the same account at least twice during the last thirteen months.

You may be concerned by the bank mobility formalities if you are a consumer wanting to move to a new bank. This service applies to deposit or payment transfer accounts owned by individuals acting privately. It applies only to accounts opened in France within French banking institutions.

The bank mobility process involves three operators:

• The New Bank (receiving bank) – manages the onboarding and coordination.
• The Former Bank – provides information required by the new bank.
• The Issuing Bank – informs direct debit issuers of the updated bank details.

To access the mobility service, you must sign a banking mobility mandate authorizing the new bank to handle procedures on your behalf. You must also indicate if you want the old account closed and provide its details.

You may also handle procedures manually using sample letters provided by the new bank.

The New Bank

Within two working days after signing the mandate, the new bank requests from the former bank:

• Information regarding valid direct debits and recurring transfers over the last 13 months.
• A list of unused cheques issued within the last 13 months.

The new bank also instructs the former bank to stop permanent transfers as of the selected date. Once information is received, new bank details will be transmitted to issuing banks within two working days.

The Former Bank

The former bank must provide the requested information within five working days.

If the account is closed, the former bank must notify the former client within three working days for a period of thirteen months if:

• A transfer or direct debit is presented to the closed account.
• A cheque is presented to the closed account (it must be refused).

The Issuing Bank

The issuing bank receives the updated bank details within two working days and must forward them to its issuing customers within three working days.

The Issuer

The issuer must update the details and perform transactions on the new account within ten working days. They must inform concerned clients of:

• Validation of the new account details and last debit made on the old account.
• The date from which future debits will apply to the new account, or if not determinable.

Transfers scheduled after the second-to-last month following this period will be executed on the new account. Any direct debit occurring after the expiry date cannot incur rejection fees.

Claims

For inquiries or claims, contact customer service:

Banque SBA
68, avenue des Champs Elysées
75008 PARIS
Email: reclamations@eblf-sbaparis.com

If unresolved, contact the Ombudsman:

Monsieur le Médiateur
CS151 – 75422 PARIS CEDEX 09

Banking mobility guide in French: Download PDF