Strengthening the effectiveness of the right to a bank account: Bill No. 1124 amending Law No. 1.492 of 8 July 2020 on the establishment of the right to a bank account

Government Bill No. 1124 amending Law No. 1.492 of 8 July 2020 on the introduction of a right to a bank account, received by the Parliament on 13 March 2026, stems from the reworking of Parliamentary Bill No. 263, adopted by the National Council on 17 October 2024.

The Government has retained the main principles of the original text proposed by the Parliament, whilst making amendments.

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Aim of the reform

The right to open a deposit and payment account with a Monegasque credit institution, in force since 17 October 2020, was enshrined in Law No. 1.492 of 8 July 2020, supplemented by Ministerial Order No. 2020-664 of 5 October 2020 (list of documents to be provided).

In the event of a refusal to open an account, the matter may be referred to the Budget and Treasury Department for the purpose of designating a credit institution to proceed with the opening of the account.

Law No. 1.492 provides for recourse before the Monegasque courts in accordance with ordinary procedure.

The aim of Bill No. 1124 is:

• to supplement the legal framework established in 2020 in order to strengthen the effectiveness of the right to a bank account,
• whilst ensuring that the exercise of the right to a bank account is compatible with international requirements regarding the fight against money laundering, financing of terrorism and of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (AML/CFT-P).

In other words, the reform is part of maintaining the balance between AML/CFT and financial inclusion, as understood by the work of MONEYVAL and the FATF:

• MONEYVAL: the right balance between a robust anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regime and the development of inclusion policies and procedures (MONEYVAL Committee Report, "Strengthening financial integrity through financial inclusion", Council of Europe, 2014).
• FATF: ensure that AML/CFT compliance controls do not prevent access to formal financial services, defining AML/CFT measures consistent with financial inclusion objectives, while respecting global anti-crime rules (FATF, revised "Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Measures and Financial Inclusion", FATF/OECD, February 2013; between February 2021 and March 2022, work to identify and analyse the unintended consequences of the FATF recommendations, followed by the Update of FATF recommendations to better support financial inclusion (February 2025).

SUMMARY of Bill No. 1124 (before prior to referral to parliamentary committee)

Bill No. 1124 aims to make the following improvements to the right-to-a-bank-account scheme established by Law No. 1.492:

• Setting time limits for the processing of applications to open a bank account with the chosen credit institution and with credit institutions designated by the Directorate of Budget and Treasury (DBT);
• Creation of a system of implied refusal entitling the applicant to refer the matter to the DBT;
• Inclusion of a provision whereby the DBT’s designation of a credit institution lapses if the applicant fails to respond to a request for the necessary documents;
• Extension of the right to a bank account to specific situations involving joint accounts (with a spouse, for example) and the closure of deposit accounts;
• Inclusion, amongst the grounds for rejecting an application to open an account, of convictions for offences relating to the freezing of funds and economic resources (Articles 219-1 to 219-4 of the Criminal Code);
• Speeding up judicial proceedings by establishing a special appeal procedure against a decision by a designated credit institution to refuse to open an account, and against a decision to unilaterally close an account opened by a designated credit institution (before the President of the Court of First Instance ruling in summary proceedings).

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IN DETAIL

Bill No. 1124 amends sections 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 and 11 of Law No. 1492 (“L”) and introduces new sections 3-1 and 4-1:

¤ Opening of a deposit account upon application (Art. 3 L.)

The provisions of Article 3 of the L. in their new wording shall apply to applications for the opening of a deposit account submitted after the date of entry into force of this Law.

• Extension of the processing time for applications to open a deposit account by the chosen credit institution: 45 working days (instead of the current 15 working days) from receipt of all the necessary documents, the list of which is set out in Ministerial Order No. 2020-664, taking into account “the complexity of certain applications to open an account, particularly where they reveal the existence of financial arrangements with an international dimension; the sometimes extraterritorial nature of a credit institution’s administration where its head office is located abroad; and any negligence on the part of the applicant in providing the required documents” (Explanatory Memorandum to Bill No. 1124).
• Reminder of AML/CFT-P-C due diligence obligations: the credit institution shall request the necessary documents without prejudice to the documents and information required for the fulfilment of its due diligence obligations under Law No. 1.362 and Sovereign Order No. 2.318.
• Details regarding the application to open an account: the application to open a deposit account must be sent to the chosen institution by registered post with acknowledgement of receipt, or by registered electronic mail with confirmation of delivery, or delivered in person at the counter in exchange for a receipt.
• Setting the starting point for the time limit granted to the institution to request the documents in writing, including, where applicable, in electronic form: no later than 45 working days from the date of acknowledgement of receipt of the application, or the date of the receipt for the application being handed in in person by the applicant at the counter.

¤ Explicit or implicit refusal to open a deposit account upon request (new Article 3-1 L.)

The provisions of Article 3-1 L., as amended, shall apply to applications to open a deposit account submitted after the date of entry into force of this Law.

• In the event of an explicit refusal to open an account: the institution must provide the applicant, free of charge and within 45 working days, in paper form or on any other durable medium if the applicant expressly requests it, with a certificate of refusal to open an account and inform them that they may ask the Budget and Treasury Directorate (DBT) to designate a credit institution for them to open an account.
• Addition of implied refusal to open an account: failure by a credit institution to respond within 45 working days from the date of the acknowledgement of receipt, or from the date of the receipt for the application for account opening handed in person at the counter, shall be deemed an implied refusal to open the account. The same applies if the credit institution remains silent upon the expiry of the 45-working-day period following receipt of the missing documents requested from the applicant. "In doing so, the Prince’s Government wished to prevent any potential delay by a credit institution in issuing the certificate of refusal to open an account. The recognition of implied refusal is intended to enable the account applicant to refer the matter to the Budget and Treasury Department without having to provide proof of an explicit refusal’" (Explanatory Memorandum to Bill No. 1124).

¤ Referral to the Directorate of Budget and Treasury (DBT) in the event of refusal by the chosen credit institution (Art. 4 L.)

The provisions of Article 4 L., as amended, shall apply to applications to open a deposit account submitted after the date of entry into force of this Law.

• Addition of the provision for referral to the DBT in the event of an implied refusal to open the account. "The person affected by such a refusal will therefore be able to refer the matter to the Directorate of Budget and Treasury by means of the postal or electronic acknowledgement of receipt, or the receipt for the hand-delivered application to open an account, said document serving as proof that the forty-five-day response period has expired" (Explanatory Memorandum to Bill No. 1124).
• It is added that the DBT informs the credit institution of its designation and the applicant of the identity of the institution it has designated for the opening of the account.

¤ Framework governing the processing of applications to open an account with a credit institution designated by the DBT, and the lapse of such designation (new Art. 4-1 L.)

The provisions of Article 4-1 L., as amended, shall apply to applications to open a deposit account submitted after the date of entry into force of this Law.

• The designated credit institution must open the deposit account no later than 45 working days from receipt of all the necessary documents.
• The designated institution must request in writing, including, where applicable, in electronic form, any documents necessary to open the account, no later than 45 working days from the date of the acknowledgement of receipt of the application, or from the date of the receipt for the application for account opening handed in personally by the applicant at the counter.
• The application to open a deposit account must be sent to the institution by registered post with acknowledgement of receipt, or by registered electronic mail with a request for acknowledgement of receipt, or handed in in person at the counter in exchange for a receipt.
• The designation of a credit institution by the DBT shall lapse if the applicant fails to respond within 45 working days of the request by the said institution for the necessary documents (based on Article R312-7-1 of the French Monetary and Financial Code). The aim is "to encourage applicants to act diligently in their dealings with the designated credit institutions. In this regard, observations made in recent years have shown that certain delays in the processing of account opening applications are due to the late submission of the documents required by applicants for the account" (Explanatory Memorandum to Bill No. 1124).

¤ Extension of the right to an account to two specific situations (Art. 6 L.)

• Where a natural person holds a joint account (with their spouse, for example): this does not preclude the right to open an individual account under the conditions laid down by Act No. 1.492. Based on French legislation.
• Natural and legal persons who have been notified of the termination of their deposit account and who are entitled to the right to an account: they may apply to the DBT as soon as they receive notification of the termination of their account, without having to wait for the notice period to expire and the account to be closed before submitting an application.

¤ Circumstances in which credit institutions designated by the DBT may reject an application to open an account (Art. 8 L.)

• Motifs de refus : intégration des condamnations pour infractions aux procédures de gel des fonds et des ressources économiques (nouveaux renvois aux articles 219-1 à 219-4 CP) ; mise à jour concernant les condamnations pour terrorisme (nouveau renvoi à l'article 391-12-1 CP)
• Grounds for refusal: inclusion of convictions for breaches of procedures relating to the freezing of funds and economic resources (new references to Articles 219-1 to 219-4 of the Criminal Code); update regarding convictions for terrorism (new reference to Article 391-12-1 of the Criminal Code)
• Addition that any decision to reject an application by a designated credit institution must be notified in writing to the applicant free of charge and communicated, for information, to the DBT.
  The provisions of Article 8(2) L., as amended, shall apply to applications to open a deposit account submitted after the date of entry into force of this Law.
• It is added that a person whose application to open a deposit account has been refused by a credit institution designated by the DBT may apply again to the DBT pursuant to Article 4 L. to have a new credit institution designated for the opening of an account. This provision “enshrines the already established practice whereby any person whose application to open a deposit account has been refused by a credit institution designated by the Directorate of Budget and Treasury may refer the matter to the Directorate of Budget and Treasury again for the same purpose” (Explanatory Memorandum to Bill No. 1124).

¤ Speeding up judicial proceedings through the creation of an urgent appeal procedure (Articles 8 and 9 L.)

The ordinary procedure currently in place “involves procedural delays that are often incompatible with the requirement, on the one hand, of urgency linked to the economic and social needs arising from the right to a bank account, and on the other hand, of speed and reasonable time limits enshrined in Article 6 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms”. (Explanatory memorandum to parliamentary draft law No. 263)

Remedies against the rejection of an application to open an account or the unilateral closure of a deposit account opened pursuant to the right to a bank account by the designated credit institution:

• Referral to the President of the Court of First Instance sitting in summary proceedings.

¤ Opening an account following closure (Art. 11 L.)

• It is added that in the event of unilateral closure of an account opened by a designated credit institution pursuant to Article 9 L., the account holder must, in order to have a new account opened, apply to a credit institution of their choice, pursuant to Article 3 L.
• Henceforth, a person whose account has been closed due to a conviction for an offence listed in Article 8 L. must apply to open an account, once the sentence has been served, with an institution of their choice pursuant to Article 3 L.

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