Press Release: Banking: Commission calls on France to amend law on current account interest

The European Commission on 4 April 2006 decided to ask France formally to amend its legislation ('Code Monétaire') that prohibited banks from offering interest on current accounts to their customers. The upshot of the legislation was that banks from another Member State which had a branch or subsidiary in France were not able to offer banking services under the same conditions as in their home Member State. The Commission considered that the legislation was in breach of the EC Treaty rules on the freedom of establishment (Article 43) and did not correctly implement the Banking Directive's provisions on single licences.