Inclusion on a United States sanctions list is not sufficient, on its own, for a refusal to open a bank account in the European Union, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) held in a judgment delivered on Thursday 11 June (Case C-81/24).
In Slovenia, a consumer is challenging a bank’s refusal to open a payment account with basic features for him, in accordance with the directive (2014/92) governing that service, because he is included on a sanctions list of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), an entity connected to the United States Department of the Treasury. Despite that listing, he has never been convicted of the criminal offence of which he is accused and has not been subject to any United Nations, EU or Slovenian sanctions.
The Slovenian courts asked the CJEU whether the bank’s refusal is justified in the light of directives (2014/92 and 2015/849) aimed at preventing the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing.
The Court recalls that any consumer legally resident in the EU has the right to open and use a payment account with basic features, in compliance with rules relating to the prevention of money laundering and the countering of terrorism.
According to the European Court, the mere inclusion of a natural person on an OFAC list or on a list of the same kind drawn up by a third country does not automatically prohibit a bank from establishing a business relationship with that consumer. It may, nevertheless, constitute one of the relevant factors which the bank is required to take into account in an individualised risk assessment.
If, following that individualised assessment, the bank considers that it is not able to manage, through measures proportionate to its nature and size, the risk of money laundering or terrorist financing connected with a business relationship, it could then refuse to open a bank account.
See the judgment of the Court of Justice: https://aeur.eu/f/maw (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)