France-based activist group Accidental Americans has taken legal action after being denied the right to open online bank accounts in the country.
The so-called ‘accidentals’ are people who have acquired US citizenship either from their parents, or by being born in the United States but leaving shortly thereafter.
American citizens living abroad are subject to the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (Fatca) which requires them and their foreign financial institutions to share their information with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
But many financial services firms are turning down applications from US citizens because they don’t want, or don’t have the capability, to comply with Fatca.
In December 2019, International Adviser revealed that Goldman Sachs’ online saving platform in the UK, Marcus by Goldman Sachs, was refusing applications from US citizens because it did not have the right processes in place to share data with the IRS, despite it being an American company.
‘Clearly discriminatory’
The president of the Association of Accidental Americans (AAA), Fabien Lehagre, told French newswire AFP that Boursorama, an online subsidiary of Societe Generale, claimed that it would cost too much money for the firm to comply with the US legislation.
“Yet, it spent €6m (£5.4m, $6.8m) six months ago to get Brad Pitt for an ad campaign – even though he can’t even open an account with them,” he said.
The association coordinated the legal action brought by 278 ‘accidentals’.
French lawyer Antoine Vey, who is looking after the lawsuit, said: “You can’t exclude someone because of their nationality. It’s clearly discriminatory.
“I feel like the prosecutor’s office has not understood the significance of an issue that affects nearly 10,000 people in France.”
This is not the first time the AAA takes legal action: having lost in the French top court in July 2019, which prompted the association to bring the matter to the European Council in November 2019.
