French Bank Account for UK Resident - Any Recommended Banks

I seem not to have made a good job of explaining the problem of it being in Italy.  You need to personally go into your branch to sign for stuff other than bog standard withdrawing and transfering, as somebody above said is also the case in most French banks.  So it's not going to be any use in a place you don't go to much.  That's why I'm thinking of moving it from Italy - I won't be going there so much now.  On the other hand, I'll be going much more to France, and particularly regularly to a town called Avallon where I now have friends (yes, I constantly do 'the tune' when I say that too ), so it would be reasonably convenient to have the Euro account there.

Anyhow, thanks for all the thoughts and considerations everyone.  I'll mull it all over a bit more during the next few weeks, do some research into the alternative suggestions, talk to my friends in France and eventually come to a decision.  Will let you know how it goes when I do, but it'll take me a while to ponder!

Another online FinTech solution to the issue of Euro bank accounts may (in due course) be offered by Europeone www.europeone.com/ who are currently in a pre-launch marketing phase.

www.startupbootcamp.org/blog/2016/11/borderless-banking-meet-europeone-fintech-startup-week/



Disclosure: I'm currently doing a small consultancy assignment for them concerning the management of test data.

I know this is an old thread and pointless post, but my experience of attempting to open bank accounts in an EU country in which I'm not resident has been that you can't.

Perhaps there are some exceptions that you might be able to hunt down and who will surely be needing fees of some sort, but walking in to a branch and asking to open an account with no local address has proven a waste of time. That includes the UK where I am a citizen.

If I did need an account in Euroland, the first place I would try is Belgium.

Online banking is generally slick and sophisticated and a visit to the branch is rarely required for day to day banking. Euro transfers are generally free within the EU. The only potential issue I can see is that Belgium removed stupid cheques from it's day to day banking decades ago, and while a cheque is still possible, it's more what we would know as a bankers draft and it's charged for plus I don't know if it's compatible with other EU countries so if the Frenchman demands his stupid cheque you might have an issue there.

Personally, I will go a long way to avoid any person or business that will refuse an electronic means of payment and who demands I put stone age bits of paper in the post.

But you proved a connection to the country and I believe that a French account may be compulsory if you own French property? Regardless, the problems start when you want to open an account in a country in which you have no connection, and citizenship is not even regarded as a connection. The banks run scared of "know your customer" and anti money laundering regulations and so, simply refuse a customer that might be "difficult".

Also, I believe this is yet another symptom of the banks running scared of the USA. Yes, the USA is now telling the worlds banks how they will operate and if the USA does not like the way they operate, they will fine that bank into oblivion. Same reason that so many banks and financial institutions won't deal with Americans any more.

FATCA was imposed on the world at the point of a financial gun, the USA yet again abusing it's power to make us do what they want or they shut down our banks, and in this case it's Americans that have been made toxic. In theory at least, misreporting one single US slave citizen back to the plantation USA can have that bank closed by the USA.

Result?

The banks simply avoid "US persons" or limit the services offered to them.

Yes, the IRS went global and they have no issue with taxing our residents and citizens, no issue raiding our tax base, ignoring our sovereignty, as long as they can claim that a person is their tax payer.