Banking and Financial Newsletter – April 2026
| Banque Finance |
1. Banking services
1.1. Texts and Publications by Regulatory Authorities
– FR | Decree No. 2026-194 of 18 March 2026 | Reporting arrangements for the national register of irregular cheques
Decree No. 2026-194 of 18 March 2026, adopted for the implementation of Article 3 of Law No. 2025-1058 of 6 November 2025 aimed at strengthening the fight against bank fraud, expands the cases that must be reported to the national register of irregular cheques maintained by the Banque de France. In addition to closed accounts and the theft or loss of cheques or cheque forms, drawee banks must now also report cheques rejected on grounds of falsification or counterfeiting, as well as any falsifications or counterfeits of cheques or cheque forms of which they become aware. The decree specifies that the information transmitted must include the numbers of the relevant stolen, lost, falsified or counterfeit cheques or cheque forms. It will enter into force on 1 September 2026.
– EU | AMLA | Public consultation | 9 February 2026 – 8 May 2026 | Draft RTS on customer due diligence measures
AMLA has launched a public consultation on draft regulatory technical standards issued under Article 28(1) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1624. The draft RTS is intended to specify how customer due diligence obligations are to be applied in practice, including the information and documents that obliged entities must collect. The consultation is open until 8 May 2026.
1.2. Case Law
– FR |French Court of Cassation, Commercial Chamber, No. 24-18.830| 11 March 2026 | Disproportionate guarantee and proof of annual information
The French Court of Cassation reiterated that the manifest disproportion of a guarantee granted by an individual must be assessed by reference to the guarantor’s overall indebtedness, including liabilities arising from other guarantee commitments. It also held that proof of compliance with the annual information obligation cannot result solely from the production of copies of letters and bailiff’s reports, without verifying that the guarantor’s name appears in the reports or dispatch lists. The ruling therefore highlights the importance of precise record-keeping, both for assessing whether the guarantee was disproportionate and for proving compliance with the annual information requirement.
2. Prudential regulation
– FR |Ordinance No. 2026-255 of 8 April 2026 | 9 April 2026 | CRD6 transposition: strengthening supervisory powers and sanctions, with consideration of ESG risks
Ordinance No. 2026-255 of 8 April 2026, published in the Official Journal on 9 April 2026, implements into French law Directive (EU) 2024/1619 of 31 May 2024, known as “CRD6”, on bank risk management and the supervision of banks. It forms part of the European banking package adopted in May 2024, alongside, in particular, CRR3.
The ordinance strengthens the supervisory, injunctive, periodic penalty payment and sanctioning powers of the ACPR and the ECB. In particular, it extends prudential supervision to material transactions carried out by institutions, such as mergers, demergers and significant transfers of assets or liabilities, which must now be notified to the supervisor in advance and may be opposed by it.
The ordinance also integrates environmental, social and governance risks into the banking supervisory framework. In addition, it strengthens the governance of credit institutions, finance companies and financial holding companies.
Lastly, the ordinance also clarifies the regime applicable to third-country branches.
– EU | EBA | Public consultation | 10 April 2026 – 10 July 2026 | Simplification of prudential reporting
The EBA has launched a public consultation on a package of measures aimed at simplifying EU prudential reporting. The consultation focuses in particular on the review of the implementing technical standards on supervisory reporting and supervisory benchmarking reporting.
The proposals are intended to reduce institutions’ reporting burden while preserving the quality of the information required by supervisory authorities. The EBA states that the number of data points in harmonised EU reporting could be reduced by around 50%, despite the introduction of new requirements relating to IFRS 18, ESG and the Fundamental Review of the Trading Book.
The package also provides for the incorporation of certain stand-alone data collections, in particular stress tests and supervisory benchmarking, into regular reporting, in order to reduce duplication, improve data consistency and stabilise the applicable requirements. The proposed changes would apply from September 2027.
The consultation is open until 10 July 2026, with an earlier deadline of 10 May 2026 for requirements relating to IFRS 18.
– EU |EBA | Public consultation | 9 April 2026 – 9 July 2026 | Revision of the guidelines on exposure limits to shadow banking entities
The EBA has launched a public consultation on the revision of its guidelines on exposure limits to shadow banking entities carrying out bank-like activities outside a regulated framework. This review aims to align the Guidelines with the updated large exposures reporting framework and to promote sound risk management and governance practices across institutions.
The consultation is open until 9 July 2026. A virtual public hearing is scheduled for 25 June 2026. The initiative is of direct relevance to credit institutions, particularly with regard to the identification, monitoring and capping of their exposures to entities conducting bank-like activities outside the prudential perimeter.
3. Payments
– FR | French Court of Cassation, Commercial Chamber, No. 24-19.588 | 4 March 2026 | Purpose of AML/CFT customer due diligence obligations and compensation of the victim of fraudulent acts
The Commercial Chamber held that the customer due diligence obligations set out in Articles L. 561-4-1 to L. 561-14-2 of the French Monetary and Financial Code are intended solely to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. Accordingly, the victim of fraudulent acts cannot rely on a breach of those obligations in order to claim damages from the financial institution. The Court also set aside the decision on the payer’s gross negligence, stating that it should have been examined whether the confirmation message sent by the bank, referring to a payment validation rather than a cancellation, ought to have alerted the customer to the fraudulent nature of the transactions.
– FR |French Court of Cassation, Commercial Chamber, No. 24-18.093 | 25 March 2026 | Authorised transfers abroad and absence of an apparent anomaly
The Commercial Chamber dismissed the appeal against a judgment which had excluded a bank’s liability in relation to eight authorised transfers executed to accounts opened in Belgium. It reiterated that a banker is subject to a duty of non-interference, which prevents it from investigating the origin, purpose or appropriateness of movements on its customer’s account. The Court therefore upheld the lower court’s finding that, despite their international nature, sometimes significant amounts, number and short execution period, those transfers did not constitute apparent anomalies readily detectable by a reasonably diligent professional.