Information is circulating everywhere: from 8,000 euros, your bank would automatically require proof to execute your transfer. Origin of funds, sales contract, invoice, donation certificate… without a document, the operation would be blocked. And yet… It’s not entirely false, but that’s not entirely true either. There is no legal text that sets an automatic threshold of 8,000 euros beyond which any supporting documentation would be systematically required.
Everything is based on what is called the obligation of vigilance of banking establishments, framed by the European anti-money laundering directives and provided for by the Monetary and Financial Code, as part of the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism (AML-FT). From a certain amount, depending on your profile, your bank may ask you for explanations… And even block the transfer time to get them. But there is no fixed threshold, confirms the French Banking Federation (FBF).
Banks are obliged to be “vigilant”
By questioning the FBF, it appears that no “threshold” amount is imposed by French law. The Banking Federation confirms to us that banks have a “duty of vigilance” concerning the risk of money laundering, and that, in this context, they “are likely to request information or supporting documents for any atypical operation with regard to the client’s profile ». An “atypical” transaction can therefore be more than 8,000 euros, or less, or more – it all depends on what the bank knows about your means, your assets and your income.
“It is therefore possible that a transfer greater than 8,000 euros may give rise to requests for explanations, but this is not systematic, it depends on the customer’s situation”concludes the FBF. Concretely, banks must know their customers (income, assets, professional activity), monitor their operations, and declare any suspicious operations to Tracfin (Intelligence Processing and action against clandestine Financial Circuits). Failure to comply with these rules exposes them to disciplinary or even criminal sanctions.
What the bank can ask for, and why
The obligation imposed on banks is therefore not to require proof for each transfer of more than 8,000 euros. But it is about having up-to-date knowledge of their customers, their income and their assets, and monitoring their transactions to detect those which appear atypical. If a transfer is consistent with your profile, your usual income and your banking historyit has every chance of passing without question. If this same transfer seems unusual, the bank may ask for explanations, and its duty of vigilance may be reinforced.
If your banker calls you to find out why you are making a sudden transfer of 10,000 euros, it is not because he is interfering in your private life, but to detect if there is a risk that you are engaged in money laundering. In practice, an invoice for the purchase of a vehicle, a certificate of donation declared for taxes for a transfer to a loved one, or even a sales agreement for a real estate transaction, are sufficient.
If the bank does a declaration of suspicionTracfin will then have to analyze the declarations and may decide, if there is a sufficient presumption, to transmit the file to the public prosecutor or to the tax administrations.
