Lawyers defending blacklisted individuals
Defending those who are de-banked.
Your account was closed without explanation, a transfer was blocked, a notary informed you of an enhanced due diligence classification because your name appeared in a press article? INFLUXIO is a law firm in Paris and Brussels defending individuals, executives and associations confronted with opaque blacklisting from anti-money laundering tools and its concrete banking consequences.
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Alexandre Bigot-Joly
Partner
Music law, influence, media, communications & criminal law. Lecturer at CELSA, ISCOM and ESP.
Raphaël Molina
Partner
Intellectual property, digital law, criminal law & influencer law. Contributor to the 2023 influencer legislation.
Maria Berrada
Partner
Intellectual property, AI, Web3, GDPR, digital criminal law & eSports. Legal counsel for the French Video Game Federation.
Our services
How we can help you.
Practical examples
Lifting an enhanced due diligence classification and unblocking a real estate transaction
A company director, mentioned incidentally in a press article not directly concerning him, had been classified under enhanced due diligence by a watchlist publisher, blocking a real estate transaction before a notary. A GDPR access request was sent to the publisher, followed by an erasure request under Article 17 of the GDPR. The file was removed within seventeen days and the transaction was completed.
Reopening an account closed without reason for an association
A cultural association had its bank account closed without explanation after several years of normal operation. A right-to-account procedure was initiated with the Banque de France alongside a formal notice to the bank, based on the principle of non-discrimination. The bank ultimately agreed to reopen the account without judicial proceedings.
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“We entrusted INFLUXIO with a complex case. Their technical expertise, strategic vision and the quality of their legal briefs were decisive.”
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Insights
Learn more about this area.
Typical situations.
People facing account closures or banking blocks rarely share the same profile, but experience situations with identical mechanisms. Three scenarios account for the majority of our cases.
Account closure without reason.
Banks have a unilateral termination right, subject to a legal notice period of two months for non-professional individuals (Article L. 312-1-1, V, of the French Monetary and Financial Code). For professionals and legal entities, the notice period is contractual. Under current law, banks have no obligation to state their reasons.
A bill proposed by Senator Folliot, currently under parliamentary review, aims to impose this obligation.
Blocked transfer or transaction.
Donations to associations, overseas property purchases, transfers to FATF-listed high-risk countries, transactions unusual in amount or destination: banks increasingly block legitimate transactions under their AML/CFT due diligence obligations, without always informing clients within reasonable timeframes.
Algorithmic enhanced due diligence classification.
Compliance software used by banks and notaries aggregates Google results, cross-references international sanctions databases, and automatically classifies individuals as high risk. In 2026, several high-profile cases exposed the dysfunctions of these tools, particularly those used by notaries. A simple press article mentioning your name can trigger an unjustified classification.
Applicable legal framework.
De-banking litigation sits at the intersection of three regulatory layers: French banking law, data protection law, and the European anti-money laundering framework.
Due diligence obligations under the Monetary and Financial Code.
Articles L. 561-2 (list of obliged entities), L. 561-4-1 et seq. (due diligence measures), L. 561-10 (enhanced due diligence for politically exposed persons) and L. 561-15 (suspicious transaction reporting to Tracfin) form the foundation of financial institutions' obligations. Article L. 574-1 provides for a €22,500 fine for violating the prohibition on informing the client under Article L. 561-18.
Article L. 561-2 will be repealed on 1 July 2026 by Ordinance No. 2024-937 of 15 October 2024, as part of the AML package transposition.
The discreet role of private watchlists.
Financial institutions effectively delegate part of their due diligence obligation to private database publishers (LSEG's World-Check, Dow Jones Risk & Compliance, LexisNexis Risk Solutions, ComplyAdvantage, Sayari). These tools aggregate open sources and sanctions lists, then assign a risk score to each person or entity.
The European Data Protection Board expressed concerns in its letters of 20 May 2022 and 28 March 2023 regarding the GDPR compliance of such processing.
The EU AML package of 31 May 2024.
The European anti-money laundering package includes Regulation 2024/1624 (AMLR), Regulation 2024/1620 establishing the AMLA Authority (operational in Frankfurt since mid-2025), and Directive 2024/1640 (AMLD6). Implementation is phased: AMLA operational mid-2025, AMLR and AMLD6 transposition by 10 July 2027, extension to the non-financial sector by 10 July 2029.
Available remedies.
Each de-banking situation opens one or more avenues of recourse. The key is to coordinate them effectively for rapid results.
Right to a bank account with the Banque de France.
Article L. 312-1 of the Monetary and Financial Code guarantees every natural or legal person domiciled in France the right to open a deposit account with a credit institution. The Banque de France designates a bank ex officio in case of refusal. However, associated services remain limited to basic banking services (no overdraft, no chequebook).
GDPR rights against watchlists.
The General Data Protection Regulation provides four levers: right of access (Article 15), right to rectification (Article 16), right to erasure (Article 17) and right to object (Article 21). In case of refusal or insufficient response from the watchlist publisher, a complaint can be filed with the CNIL. Learn more about our GDPR expertise.
Legal action against the bank.
In urgent cases, emergency proceedings before the judicial court can obtain rapid interim measures. On the merits, a contractual civil liability action seeks compensation for economic and reputational harm. Coordination with the Défenseur des droits is possible in cases of proven discrimination.
Delisting the source article.
When blacklisting originates from a press article, delisting from Google and other search engines is a decisive lever. It relies on Article 17 of the GDPR, which codifies and extends the Google Spain case law (CJEU, 13 May 2014, Case C-131/12). Learn more about our e-reputation expertise.
Our services.
INFLUXIO offers comprehensive support, from preventive exposure audits to contentious proceedings.
Audit and prevention.
We conduct exposure audits for politically exposed persons, media-exposed executives and French nationals abroad. This audit identifies digital traces likely to trigger blacklisting and proposes preventive corrective actions, in conjunction with our e-reputation expertise.
Exercising GDPR rights.
We submit access, rectification and erasure requests to watchlist publishers and file complaints with the CNIL in case of resistance. See our digital law expertise for more on our GDPR consultations.
Banking litigation.
We initiate right-to-account procedures, emergency injunctions and actions on the merits for contractual civil liability. Our goal is to obtain account reopening, transaction unblocking or full compensation for the harm suffered.
Case studies.
Two examples illustrate our concrete approach to these cases.
Lifting an enhanced due diligence classification.
A company director, mentioned in a press article not directly concerning him, had been classified under enhanced due diligence by a watchlist publisher. The ongoing real estate transaction before a notary was blocked. Following a GDPR access request and an erasure request under Article 17, the file was removed within seventeen days and the transaction completed.
Reopening an account closed for an association.
A cultural association had its account closed without explanation after years of normal operation. A right-to-account procedure was initiated with the Banque de France alongside a formal notice based on the principle of non-discrimination. The bank agreed to reopen the account without judicial proceedings.
Politically exposed persons: a status to monitor.
Politically exposed persons (PEPs), their spouses and children are subject to automatic enhanced due diligence under Article L. 561-10 of the Monetary and Financial Code. This translates into in-depth verifications, recurring document requests and, in the most severe cases, account closure or refusal to open an account. The EU AML package maintains and strengthens this regime.
INFLUXIO supports PEPs in securing their banking relationship and challenging disproportionate blacklisting.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions.
Under current law, banks can unilaterally terminate an account with two months' notice for individuals (Article L. 312-1-1, V, CMF), without any obligation to state reasons. You can exercise your right to a bank account with the Banque de France (Article L. 312-1 CMF) and, if the closure is wrongful, bring a contractual civil liability action before the judicial court.
The right to a bank account, provided for by Article L. 312-1 of the Monetary and Financial Code, guarantees every natural or legal person domiciled in France the right to open a deposit account. In case of refusal, the Banque de France designates a bank ex officio, which must open the account within three business days. Services remain limited to basic banking services.
A watchlist is a private database (World-Check, Dow Jones, LexisNexis, ComplyAdvantage) used by banks and notaries to assess client risk. You can exercise your right of access with the publisher under Article 15 of the GDPR. In case of refusal, the CNIL can be contacted.
Article R. 561-18 of the Monetary and Financial Code defines PEPs as persons holding or having held high-level political, judicial or administrative functions, as well as their spouses, partners and children. This status triggers automatic enhanced due diligence from financial institutions.
Yes, under Article 17 of the GDPR (right to erasure), provided the data is no longer necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, or the processing is unlawful. The European Data Protection Board has expressed concerns about the compliance of such processing, strengthening the position of listed individuals.
The procedure is relatively quick: after filing with the Banque de France, the designated bank has three business days to open the account. In practice, the total timeline is approximately two to three weeks, including file preparation and administrative processing.
An enhanced due diligence classification by the notary's compliance software means your name has been matched with an information source (press article, sanctions list, commercial database). This does not mean you are suspected of anything. You can exercise your right of access with the software publisher and request rectification or erasure of your data.
Traditional banking blacklisting (FCC, FICP) is managed by the Banque de France and concerns payment incidents or over-indebtedness. AML/CFT blacklisting is operated by private watchlist publishers and aims to identify persons presenting a risk regarding anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing. The two types of blacklisting are governed by distinct legal rules.
Yes. Compliance software used by banks automatically aggregates Google results. A press article mentioning you in a negative context can trigger a high-risk classification and, ultimately, account closure. Delisting the article then becomes an effective lever.
Our fees depend on the complexity of the case. A confidential initial consultation allows us to assess your situation and provide a tailored quote. Contact us by phone at +33 1 89 70 38 78 or via our contact form.
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