SWIFT/BIC codes in France: banks starting with J

Finding a SWIFT code in France

On this page you find codes for 2801 institutions in France. Every code points to a bank or one of its branches, so a payment from abroad reaches the right place.

Choose a bank below to view its head office code and its other codes along with tips for payments to and from that bank. The sections below explain the structure of the codes, the cost of transfers and how to avoid mistakes.

Receiving money in France from abroad

A sender in another country will ask for a few details about your account. Share the account holder’s name, your account number or IBAN, your bank’s SWIFT code and your address.

The code of your bank appears in the list on this page, yet the version on your own statement or in your banking app is leading. You can add the name and city of your bank because some forms have separate fields for it.

What lands in your account is often less than the amount sent. Correspondent banks can take a fee, and when currencies differ, a markup on the rate comes on top. Agree with the sender who covers the fees.

Paying in euros to France

Since France is part of SEPA, a euro payment to a bank in France normally requires just an IBAN. Most banking apps no longer ask for the BIC for these payments.

You will still need the BIC when sending non-euro payments or money from outside the SEPA area. Instant euro transfers have become increasingly available across SEPA, though not every bank offers them for every account. Costs stay low provided everything stays in euros.

Most SWIFT codes in France: Credit Agricole

In our data, Credit Agricole has the largest number of SWIFT/BIC codes of all banks in France. Its head office code is AGRIFRPP802 – the code most transfers need.

Banks differ in whether they register branch codes, so the count is not a ranking of size. Unless a branch code is given, the head office code AGRIFRPP802 works for transfers to this bank.

Banks in France beginning with the letter :letter

The letter filter limits the list to banks in France starting with :letter. The counts in the introduction always refer to the whole country, not just this letter.

If a bank is missing under :letter, check the full list. The complete list is one click away when you cannot find the bank here.

About our data and how to check a code

The best place to find the right code is a document from the bank itself, such as a statement or the account page in online banking. When the code you were given does not match our list, do not guess.

This list is based on public sources that we update periodically. Even so, banks merge or retire codes. For a payment of any size, check the code with the recipient. GoldexPay is an independent comparison site and has no link to the banks in this list.

Watch out for invoices with a new account – a common fraud method. A valid BIC tells you nothing about whether a request is genuine.

What a transfer to France really costs

When you send money to France through a regular bank, the fee you see is rarely all of what you pay. There is a transfer fee, possibly fees from correspondent banks along the way and, most importantly, the exchange rate markup.

The real cost is often in the rate, not in the fee – the bank builds a margin into its rate. An easy check: put the offered rate against the mid-market rate and work out the difference on your amount.

For many routes, a transfer service is cheaper than a traditional bank transfer. GoldexPay compares what recipients in France receive across providers, which makes the cheapest option easy to spot.

The structure of a France SWIFT/BIC code

Bank identifier codes follow the same format worldwide: eight characters plus an optional three-character extension. Characters one to four stand for the bank, characters five and six form the country code and characters seven and eight give the location.

You can recognise a code from France from the fifth and sixth characters. A code with a different country code come from a bank abroad.

The long version ends in a branch code – XXX stands for the head office. Choose a branch code only when the recipient explicitly gives you one – otherwise stick with the head office.

How long does a transfer to France take?

How quickly a payment reaches France is determined by a few things: which currency you send, how many intermediary banks are involved, cut-off times and differences in time zone. Public holidays in France or in the sending country can add extra days, because banks do not process payments on those days.

Many banks use SWIFT gpi. Every payment gets a unique transaction reference, the UETR. Save your transfer receipt until the money has arrived; a bank needs it to start a trace.

Sending EUR to France

France pays in the Euro. When you pay another currency, it gets converted somewhere along the way – by your bank, a bank in between or the recipient’s bank.

Who does the conversion affects the final amount, as rates and margins differ per bank. Often you pay less to send EUR directly via a provider with a good rate so the receiving bank does not need to convert again. Exchange rates move during the day.