Banking – HSBC France becomes CCF from January 2024

Are you a HSBC France bank customer and worried about the changes?. If yes, this article will be relevant. Here is a summary of the information available so far in the public domain.

On 1st January 2024, HSBC France’s retail banking network will become CCF (ex-Crédit Commercial de France), a brand acquired by the HSBC Group in the year 2000.

CCF willl be owned by My Money Group (MMG), a subsidiary of the American fund Cerberus.

• Since 20th October 2023. the bank has stopped accepting any new individual customers until the transfer is completed.
• As it means the creation of a new bank, existing customers will be issued with a new RIB, new online login details and a new cheque book.
• Bank cards will remain active until they are automatically renewed.
• The transfer comprises around 250 branches and 3,900 employees, serving some 800,000 customers. So, the current customers will continue to be served by their existing branch advisors.
• HSBC has communicated that public authorities and energy providers (gas & electricity) suppliers will be automatically notified about these changes. Therefore, It is not required to update the new bank details with them, if you have automatic monthly direct debit (prélèvement automatique).
• To avoid any complications, the bank will provide a support service for other important transactions like salaries paid by employers, insurance payments and other subscriptions.
• For six months starting from January 2024, all bank transfers and direct debits using the old IBANs will be automatically transferred to the new CCF IBANs.
• Also, long-term agreements have been signed with HSBC Assurance Vie (France), HSBC Global Asset Management (France), and HSBC REIM (France) to ensure that existing clients continue to benefit from the same quality products.
• HSBC France has started communicating this information to its existing customers via emails, letters, etc. If you have not received them, you should update your address and the latest contact information. 

If you are worried about this change, you can also start exploring other French banks available online and offline. The online-only French banks such as BoursoBank, Fortuneo, Hello Bank, etc provide free banking services including débits cards. However, most of them have a common condition that the card must be used atleast once a month. If not, a monthly charge will be applicable.