France runs a two regulator model. The Autorite des marches financiers, the AMF, supervises markets, investment services and the conduct of firms dealing with the public. The prudential side, capital and solvency, sits with the ACPR alongside the Banque de France. An investment firm in France deals with both, and the split matters when you are working out who authorises what.
For anyone selling contracts for difference to French residents, though, the defining feature of the market is not the licensing route. It is the advertising ban.
The advertising restriction, and what it covers
French law prohibits electronic advertising directed at retail clients for certain highly speculative contracts, including CFDs with no protection against loss beyond the deposit and binary options. The restriction is on the promotion, not only on the product, and it reaches sponsorships and partnership arrangements as well as direct advertising.
Two consequences follow that firms consistently underestimate. First, the rule follows the client, not the firm's letterhead. A broker authorised in another EEA state and operating into France under a passport is still subject to French marketing rules for French retail clients. Second, affiliate arrangements do not launder the problem. If an affiliate is advertising your product to French retail clients electronically, that is your exposure, which is why affiliate compliance belongs in the same file as the licence.
Restrictions of this kind are conduct rules on top of a licence, not a substitute for one. Firms are responsible for taking their own legal advice on how French marketing rules apply to their exact product set and client base. Nothing here is legal advice.
Passporting in, and the limits of it
Under MiFID a firm authorised in one EEA state can provide services in France through the freedom to provide services or by establishing a branch. The home regulator keeps prudential supervision; the host state keeps a meaningful share of conduct supervision, and marketing rules sit squarely in that host state bucket. The general framework is in MiFID II and the practical steps are covered in EU passporting.
Firms based outside the EEA face a harder problem. There is no automatic route in, and relying on the client having approached you first is narrower than most sales teams assume. That doctrine is covered in reverse solicitation, and the short version is that it does not survive an advertising campaign, an affiliate funnel or an outbound call.
Leverage caps and product intervention
On top of national marketing rules, French retail clients get the EU wide product intervention measures on CFDs: leverage caps that vary by asset class, margin close out, negative balance protection, a ban on monetary and non monetary incentives to trade, and a standardised risk warning with a loss percentage. Those are described in ESMA leverage caps and negative balance protection.
The combination is what makes France distinct. Most of Europe restricts how the product works. France restricts that and also how you are allowed to talk about it.
The public registers and the blacklist
The AMF publishes lists of unauthorised websites offering forex, CFD or crypto related investments to French residents. Those blacklists are a supervisory tool aimed at retail investors and they get press coverage, which means an appearance on one is a marketing problem long before it is a legal one.
Anyone doing counterparty checks should treat the AMF register and the blacklist as separate lookups: one confirms authorisation, the other flags firms the regulator has warned about. The general method for verifying a firm is in how to check a broker licence, and the register list itself in broker licence registers.
What a firm targeting France actually has to build
Assume the licence is settled, whether French or passported. The operational work that follows is concrete. Marketing has to be reviewed against the electronic advertising prohibition before anything is published, and that review has to include affiliates, influencers and paid social. Onboarding has to categorise clients correctly, because the restrictions turn on retail status, which links to client categorisation and professional client status. Disclosures, statements and the client portal need French language versions, and complaints handling has to reflect French requirements.
None of that is exotic. It is, however, the part that gets discovered late, usually after a campaign has already run. SINGUARD builds software for licensed firms and does not provide regulatory advice, but the pattern we see repeatedly is a firm that budgeted carefully for authorisation and not at all for the conduct layer that sits above it. The conduct layer is where the enforcement happens.
"Firms plan the licence and forget the marketing rules. In France the marketing rules are the part that will actually stop you selling."
— Roman Onta, Executive Director, SINGUARD
Key Takeaways
- France pairs the EU wide CFD product rules with a national ban on electronic advertising of the most speculative retail derivatives.
- Marketing rules follow the client, so a firm passporting into France from another EEA state is still bound by them.
- Prudential supervision sits with the ACPR while conduct and market supervision sits with the AMF.
- The AMF blacklist of unauthorised sites is public and is a reputational problem as much as a legal one.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a broker licensed in another EU country serve French clients?
Under MiFID a firm authorised in one EEA state can passport into France by freedom of services or through a branch. Home state prudential supervision continues, but French conduct and marketing rules apply to French retail clients.
What exactly does the French CFD advertising ban prohibit?
It prohibits electronic advertising to retail clients for certain highly speculative contracts, including CFDs without protection against losses beyond the deposit and binary options, and it extends to sponsorship and partnership promotion. Firms should take legal advice on their specific product set.
Who supervises capital requirements for a French investment firm?
The ACPR handles prudential supervision alongside the Banque de France, while the AMF supervises markets, investment services and firm conduct. A French investment firm interacts with both.
About the Author
Roman Onta is an Executive Director at SINGUARD. He builds the Prop Firm CRM, the Broker CRM, Scalegram and CopySignals side by side with his brother Alex Onta, and he helped on the design of eTrader, the division Alex built and leads. His ground is worldwide payment processing, AML compliance and the corporate structures brokers are built on, work the two of them carry together, shaped by executive roles in the UAE and international corporates. He lives and works in Dubai for most of the year. Meet the executive duo leading Singuard's five divisions.