Opening a bank account

Hi Berkley - I found Britline - https://www.britline.com - a subsidiary of CA very helpful and easy to set up and subsequently run. 3000€ as an initial deposit, but no great requirements after that.

We set up a current account with HSBC france on line , we have not changed our address to our French address yet as we don't arrive in France yet. We had to transfer 200 euros into the account.

Only confusing part was when they asked us to upload a selfie with your hand under your chin. We didn't know if we had lost something in translation but we submit a photo as it says with hand held up under chin and it was accepted!

Since HSBC is a truly international bank then it should be very easy to open an account in France, especially if you have an HSBC account in the UK. If you have an HSBC Premier account in the UK then you'd not need to deposit much at all in the account in France as the primary country account that requires the larger deposit needs only to be in one country. Also, even if that minimum deposit is not reached then they don't mind since they will just charge you a monthly penalty. The only thing about HSBC is that they tend to send emails threatening to block access to accounts if you cannot explain where funds are coming from. So it is quite easy to open an HSBC account in France. I'm not such a big fan of either BNP or CA but it seems to be what most people use.

Thanks for all the advice on banking

Great info-share:)
I noticed HSBC also operates very independently from my London Mayfair branch, and so I was unable to get any help as they do not have access to the UK system - imagine that! = most frustrating.
Need to also open a business account, so would appreciate any wise advice.
Blessed regards.