France to ban duplicate regulated savings accounts from July 2027

From 1 July 2027, French banks will be required to verify that a customer does not already hold an identical regulated savings product at another institution. The new rule, issued by a decree on 2 June 2026, expands the existing verification system—previously applied only to the Livret A—to all regulated accounts such as the Plan d’Épargne Logement (PEL), Livret de Développement Durable et Solidaire (LDDS), Livret d’Épargne Populaire (LEP) and similar products.

Banks must query the national tax‑administration’s Ficoba database, providing the client’s name, date and place of birth, to confirm whether an active contract of the same type exists elsewhere. Customers who have unintentionally kept duplicate accounts will be forced to close the extra contracts, and banks that fail to perform the check could face penalties. The measure aims to end the long‑standing practice of holding multiple identical savings contracts, which was previously tolerated due to a lack of cross‑bank verification.