FRANCE Law and Practice Contributed by: Sylvain Clavé and Germain Chaux, Clavé Avocat
other monetary authority). Under French law, stable - coins are regulated by MiCAR, which has been directly applicable for its stablecoin-specific provisions since 30 June 2024. MiCAR distinguishes between two cat - egories of stablecoins: EMTs and ARTs. EMTs are stablecoins that reference a single official currency (such as Circle’s USDC, EURC or SG-Forge’s EUR CoinVertible). These stablecoins can only be issued by credit institutions or electronic money insti - tutions. These issuers must grant holders a contrac - tual right to redeem their tokens at any time and at par value against the single official currency they ref - erence. Furthermore, the funds received in exchange for EMTs must be invested in safe, low-risk assets denominated in the same official currency to eliminate cross-currency risks. Under certain conditions, signifi - cant EMT issuers must maintain a reserve of assets to back the value of the tokens. ARTs maintain their value by reference to multiple fiat currencies or other assets (including other crypto- assets) – or any “value or right”. This type of stablecoin is a catch-all category, which includes tokens pegged to commodities (such as PAX Gold), liquid staking or wrapped tokens (eg, stETH, WBTC, wstETH). For ART issuers, specific authorisation is required from a com - petent authority unless the issuer is already a credit institution. They are subject to own funds require - ments calculated as a percentage of the reserve of assets to mitigate financial stability risks. Unlike EMTs, the redemption right for ARTs is generally based on the market value of the referenced assets or through the physical delivery of those assets. They must also maintain a reserve of assets to back the value of the tokens. For both categories, issuers are required to draw up, notify and publish a detailed crypto-asset White Paper that includes essential information on the issuer, the characteristics of the project, and the risks involved.
ty providers (TPPs) with secure access to payment account data. This framework introduced two key reg - ulated activities: account information services (AIS), allowing for data consolidation, and payment initiation services (PIS), enabling direct credit transfers. Banks must establish secure APIs to enable the sharing of personal data (eg, bank account information) with fin - tech companies. While successful for retail players, adoption remains modest among corporate clients. To address friction and technical barriers, the upcoming PSD3 and Pay - ment Services Regulation (PSR) aim to refine these requirements. The proposed Financial Data Access (FIDA) Regula - tion seeks to transition from “Open Banking” to “Open Finance” by extending the data-sharing framework – initially introduced by PSD2 for payment accounts – to a broader range of financial products. This regulation was proposed by the European Commission in June 2023 as part of the Open Finance legislative package and is still currently being discussed. The proposal has faced strong opposition from traditional banks and insurers due to high compliance costs and techni - cal complexity. Once adopted, it will apply 24 months after its approval. 11.2 Concerns Raised by Open Banking The Open Banking requirements under PSD2 have raised several issues over privacy, security and the increased risk of cyber-attacks on third-party applica - tions and APIs. These risks could create complex legal issues regarding liability between banks and TPPs in the event of a security breach. Furthermore, the obligation to share extensive per - sonal data raises compliance challenges with the GDPR, especially given the sensitive nature of cer - tain payment information. Consequently, both banks and fintech companies must strictly adhere to GDPR standards when processing client data to maintain user trust and security.
11. Open Banking 11.1 Regulation of Open Banking
Open banking in France is primarily governed by PSD2, which requires that banks provide third-par -
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