FRANCE Law and Practice Contributed by: Damien Luqué, Martin Jarrige de la Sizeranne and Sacha Tartarin, Lacourte Raquin Tatar
pare an application file that includes all required documents. As a matter of principle, the licensing decision is taken within six months from the date of receipt of a complete application file. However, since the ACPR often asks for additional information and documents, the review period is always extended. In practice, the authorisation process generally lasts twelve months. Once the licence is granted, the credit institu - tion will be subject to various fees and charges including: • contributions for control costs due to the ACPR; • contribution to the national deposit guarantee scheme (see 6.1 Deposit Guarantee Scheme (DGS) ); and • contribution to the national resolution fund and the single resolution fund. Activities and Services The banking licence enables credit institutions to provide banking activities in France, which include: • receiving funds from the public; • granting credits; and • providing bank payment services. Note that banking activities are covered by the rules on French banking monopoly, and any breach of the banking monopoly regulations constitutes a criminal offence. Additionally, duly authorised credit institutions can provide ancillary banking activities related to their business, such as: • conducting foreign exchange transactions;
• conducting transactions relating to gold, pre - cious metals and coins; • investing in, subscribing to, buying, manag - ing, providing custody for and selling securi - ties and any other financial product; • providing payment services; • issuing and managing electronic money; and • providing investment services (subject to an investment service provider’s licence). Moreover, credit institutions can carry out non- banking activities provided that they are not con - ducted on a regular basis. That being said, spe - cific non-banking activities could be carried out by a credit institution on a regular basis, such as: • acting as an agent, a broker or a commission agent, in particular on behalf of a subsidiary; • managing real estate assets that it owns, and which are not dedicated to its operations; • offering services which constitute the ancillary use of resources mainly dedicated to banking operations; and • providing services to customers which consti - tute an extension of banking transactions. Non-banking activities must remain of limited importance in relation to the institution’s usual activities and must not prevent, restrict or distort competition in the relevant market. In addition to its banking activities, a credit insti - tution may also apply for further authorisations to conduct regulated activities which are cov - ered by other licences, such as the investment service provider (ISP) or digital asset service pro - vider (DASP) licences. EU Passport Pursuant to the principle of mutual recogni - tion of banking licences inside the EU, a credit institution duly authorised in France may con -
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