In line with the principle of mutual recognition of authorisations, credit institutions (CI), investment firms (IF), electronic money institutions (EMI) and payment institutions (PI) that are authorised to operate and headquartered in France may operate within the territory of one or more member State of the European Union (EU) or party to the European Economic Area (EEA) Agreement, provided that the required notifications have been made and once the ACPR has notified the competent authority of the host Member State.
Financial institutions, including financing companies headquartered in France, may exercise EU passporting rights, provided the following requirements are met:
1. The financial institution concerned is a subsidiary of one or more parent undertakings authorised to operate as credit institutions in France that hold at least 90% of the institution’s voting rights attached to shares or membership shares;
2. Its parent undertaking(s) satisfies the competent authority regarding the prudent management of the financial institution and has declared, with the ACPR’s consent, that they jointly and severally guarantee the commitments entered into by the financial institution;
3. The financial institution actually provides equivalent banking services within the territory of the French Republic and is effectively included, for the activities in question in particular, in the consolidated supervision of the parent undertaking, or of each of the parent undertakings.
Your institution may operate in another EU Member State or in another State party to the EEA Agreement as follows:
- freedom of establishment (FOE):
- by setting up a branch in the Member State concerned;
- by appointing a tied agent established in the Member State concerned for the provision of investment services, an agent established in that Member State for the provision of payment services, or an electronic money distributor established in that Member State;
- freedom to provide services (FPS):
- by setting up a subsidiary in the Member State concerned: in such case, a separate authorisation must then be sought from the competent authority of that Member State.
Freedom of establishment or freedom to provide services in another EU Member State or State party to the EEA Agreement
Passporting procedure under freedom of establishment or freedom to provide services
Prior to exercising your passporting rights in France under the freedom of establishment or the freedom to provide services, you are required to:
1. Fill in a passport notification template to set up a branch under the freedom of establishment or a declaration template to provide services under the freedom to provide services
Notification forms must be submitted in .doc or .docx format.
2. Submit your complete application file
- For credit institutions: submit your application on the ECB’s IMAS portal;
- For all other entities: submit your application on the ACPR’s portal (only available in French)
Notification forms must be submitted in .doc or .docx format.
3. Application examination process
The ACPR assesses whether application files are complete, accurate and consistent. It may request additional information to facilitate the examination process.
The ACPR (or, where applicable, the ECB) examines applications and determines whether they can be forwarded to the competent authority of the host Member State. Applicants are then notified of this decision in writing.
Should an application be approved, the relevant notification file is also forwarded to the competent authority of the host Member State.
Changes to the information provided in the context of a passporting notification under the freedom of establishment or a passporting declaration under the freedom to provide services
Any changes to the information included a part of the notification procedure under the freedom of establishment or as part of the declaration procedure under the freedom to provide services must be notified to the ACPR and, where applicable, to the competent authority of the host Member State at least one month before they become effective.
National competent authorities broken down by country
List of national competent authorities in the EEA
Use of an agent, a tied agent or a distributor
Investment firms may use a tied agent established in another Member State of the EU/EEA.
Payment institutions or electronic money institutions may use one or more agents established in another Member State of the EU/EEA.
Electronic money institutions may use one or more distributors established in another Member State of the EU/EEA.
An agent is a natural person or a legal person who provides payment services on behalf of one or more payment institutions. The appointing institutions remain fully liable towards third parties for any acts of any agent they have appointed. Appointed agents are required to disclose their status as agents acting on behalf of payment institutions to payment service users at first contact.
In the event of deregistration of agents or cessation of use of tied agents or distributors, the ACPR must be notified.
All of these procedures are free of charge.
Contact points for information on EU passports
Updated on the 1st of December 2025