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Licence withdrawal

Applicable regulations and procedure

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When should an application be made to the ACPR to withdraw a licence?

  • Your institution no longer pursues regulated banking or financial activities.
  • Your institution is requesting a licence to change to a different institutional category. Example, if you want to change from being a credit institution to being a finance company.
  • Your institution merges with another approved institution and ceases to be a legal entity in its own right.
Applicable regulation

Your institution’s licence may be withdrawn by the ACPR or by the ECB in the case of credit institutions

  • at your request;
  • or automatically:
    • if the institution no longer meets the requirements or commitments on which its licence was conditional;
    • if the institution has not made use of its licence within a 12-month period;
    • if the institution has not pursued its activity for at least six months.

Withdrawal will take effect:

  • immediately if the ECB or the ACPR believes that all the conditions set by the current regulations are satisfied;
  • or at the date when the conditions precedent set by the ECB or the ACPR with respect to the dossier are lifted;
  • or after a period to be determined by the ECB or the ACPR and during which the institution must confine itself to run-off management of its regulated activities.

After the withdrawal takes effect:

  • your institution may no longer engage in regulated activities once the licence withdrawal takes effect, aside from management in run-off mode of any outstanding loans. However, it may pursue commercial activities that are not subject to specific status requirements;
  • your institution must change its corporate name.
Procedure

Prior to the licence withdrawal
Submit an application to withdraw the licence on the Authorisation Portal: https://acpr-autorisations.banque-france.fr/

Be ready for the practical consequences of the licence withdrawal
Standard withdrawal with immediate effect:

  • the interbank code (CIB) will be eliminated at the end of the month during which the licence is withdrawn;
  • all of your branches will be closed at that date;
  • you will not be able to carry out payment transactions.

Withdrawal of licence with merger:
The rules governing the period for updating the database of bank branches (FGD) are set out in CFONB Circular 2001/075. These rules are currently being reviewed and may be amended in the near future.

  • If the merging institution adopts the code of the receiving institution:
    • you have 12 months to close branches with the code of the merging institution or transfer them to the code of the receiving institution;
    • information on branches with the code of the merging institution will be kept for 14 months in the FGD after the close of the transfer referred to in the previous point, to enable transactions initiated prior to the withdrawal to be properly routed;
    • regulatory, prudential and accounting disclosures by the receiving institution to the ACPR must include those of the merging institution under the CIB of the receiving institution, starting from the filing for the month during which the merger took place.
  • If the receiving institution adopts the code of the merging institution:
    • you have two months to close branches with the code of the receiving institution or transfer them to the code of the merging institution;
    • information on branches with the code of the receiving institution will be kept for 14 months in the FGD after the close of the transfer referred to in the previous point, to enable transactions initiated prior to the withdrawal to be properly routed;
    • regulatory, prudential and accounting disclosures by the receiving institution to the ACPR must include those of the merging institution under the latter’s CIB, starting from the filing for the month during which the merger took place.

Following the review
Following a review of the application, ECB or ACPR staff, as applicable, will notify you of the decision.

What you must do when the licence is withdrawn

  • Change your institution’s corporate name.
  • Inform the Authorisation Directorate of the effective date of the withdrawal, providing supporting documentation.
  • In the event of a withdrawal including a specified period, at the end of the period granted to your institution to transfer or repay deposits, securities or commitments that it is not allowed not retain, or funds received in the case of payment institutions and electronic money institutions as well as investment firms in a ringfencing situation, have the statutory auditors prepare a statement confirming that the institution no longer holds the deposits, securities, commitments or funds in question.

 

Updated on: 04/30/2019 11:13