Bank transfers: these 6 things you can no longer do with your savings

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Gone are the days when you could easily juggle between your different savings accounts. Whether you want to transfer funds from your Livret A to your LDDS, or fund your LEP from a tax-paid savings account, these operations can no longer be carried out directly.

From now on, every movement between savings accounts must go through your current account. This measure, although restrictive, aims to strengthen the traceability of financial flows.

Spontaneous generosity takes a hit. If you were in the habit of making one-off or regular transfers to the savings accounts of your children, grandchildren or other members of your entourage, this practice is now prohibited.

Banks systematically block these direct transfers, even within their own network. This measure particularly impacts families who used this means to build up precautionary savings for their loved ones.

Be careful, there is still an exception. Transfers made by parents, as legal representatives, to the accounts of their minor children , or from a passbook to the child's checking account, are tolerated, provided that the accounts are held in the same bank.< /p>

For uncles, aunts or grandparents who want to prepare for the future of their nieces, nephews or grandchildren, it will be necessary to transfer the transactions through a current account in the child's name.

You thought you could draw on your Livret A to repay a friend or pay a bill? Think again. Direct transfers from a savings account to another person's checking account are now impossible.

This restriction complicates certain everyday transactions and requires a systematic detour via your own checking account.

Even within the same bank, standing orders from a savings account to a checking account are now prohibited.

This measure puts an end to a common practice that allowed, for example, regular funding of one's checking account from one's savings to cover recurring expenses.

Automatic transfers from your savings account to an account (checking or savings) held at another bank are also prohibited.

This restriction applies whether or not you are the holder of the recipient account. In particular, it complicates the management of diversified savings between several banking establishments.

With rare exceptions concerning the Livret A, it is no longer possible for a third party to make a transfer directly to your savings account.

This measure particularly impacts family or friendly arrangements aimed at building up joint savings or helping each other financially.

The scope of these new restrictions is broad. They concern all savings accounts (taxed or not), term accounts, as well as all regulated savings products: Livret A, LDDS, LEP, Livret Jeune and Compte Épargne Logement.

The Livret A, however, benefits from a slightly exceptional regime, in particular for incoming transfers of certain social benefits and civil servant salaries. Be careful, however, not all banks apply these exceptions uniformly.

But why such a tightening of the screw ? This development has its origins in a European directive on payment services, known as DSP2.When it was transposed into French law in 2018, the Senate Finance Committee raised a potential risk related to new account aggregation and transfer initiation services. By providing access to banking data, these services could expose savings accounts to fraud not covered by the directive.

Faced with this legal vacuum, the Ministry of Economy and Finance asked banks to strengthen the security of savings account transactions. The objective is clear: to protect savers against risks of fraud for which they would not have been compensated.

Ironically, these new restrictions only bring back into fashion a regulation dating back to 1969!Indeed, a decision by the National Credit Council, the forerunner of the current Financial Sector Advisory Committee, already limited transactions on passbooks to movements between the holder's savings account and current account. Over time, banks had taken liberties with this rule, until this reminder from Bercy in 2018.

These changes, although restrictive, therefore aim to strengthen the security of your savings. They impose a new discipline in the management of your accounts, with a mandatory passage through the current account for any transaction involving a savings account. While this reorganization may seem tedious, it guarantees better traceability of financial flows and better protection against the risks of fraud.

For savers, these new rules imply an adaptation of their banking habits. It is therefore essential to plan your money movements carefully and to take into account the additional delays linked to the mandatory transit through the current account.

• Direct transfers between savings accounts and to third parties are now prohibited.
• Any movement involving a savings account must transit through the holder's current account.
• These restrictions, resulting from a European directive, aim to strengthen the protection of savers against fraud.

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