FRANCE Law and Practice Contributed by: Damien Luqué, Martin Jarrige de la Sizeranne and Sacha Tartarin, Lacourte Raquin Tatar
2. Authorisation 2.1 Licences and Application Process Authorisation Requirements In order to obtain a credit institution licence in France, the applicant must meet the following conditions: • having a legal form adapted to the contem - plated activities; • having its central administration located in France; • being managed by at least two conducting officers ( dirigeants effectifs ) who meet condi - tions regarding their knowledge, professional experience and skills, and comply with fit and proper requirements; and • having a minimum paid-up initial capital of EUR5 million. Although the legislation does not impose a spe - cific legal form, in practice licensed credit institu - tions generally take the form of a société anon - yme or a société en commandite par actions . In addition, specific requirements on governance and organisation apply when a credit institution adopts the legal form of a société par actions simplifiée . Licensing Process The application for a licence is filed with the ACPR, which then forwards the file and a draft decision to the European Central Bank (ECB). The decision to grant the licence is made by the ECB, based on the ACPR’s draft decision. The application process generally begins with a “kick-off meeting” with the ACPR. This meeting aims to introduce the contemplated activities, outline the expected timeline and receive the ACPR’s preliminary comments on the project. Following this meeting, the applicant must pre -
The ACPR also has the power to take adminis - trative and disciplinary sanctions against regu - lated institutions in case of breach of applicable laws and regulations. In addition, the French Financial Markets Author - ity ( Autorité des marchés financiers – AMF) is also competent for monitoring French credit institutions which are authorised to provide One of the particularities of the French banking sector is the existence of “cooperative bank - ing groups”, which are specifically governed by legal provisions of the French Monetary and Financial Code. Such legal framework includes provisions on conditions regarding the member - ship of cooperative networks, the missions of regional credit institutions, the composition of their capital, and the governance and organisa - tion of each network. In addition, it should be noted that besides credit institutions, specific regulated institutions may carry out banking activities in France: investment services. Local Particularities • financing companies ( sociétés de finance- ment ), which are able to provide credit ser - vices but are not authorised to receive funds from the public; • payment institutions ( établissements de paiement ), which can only provide payment services; • electronic money institutions ( établissements de monnaie électronique ), which can issue, manage and provide electronic money and provide payment services in that context; and • some public institutions (the Trésor public , the Banque de France , La Poste , the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations , etc).
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