#62024CJ0081EU Court Clarifies When Banks May Refuse Basic Payment Accounts Over Sanctions Concerns
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Banks cannot automatically refuse a consumer a basic payment account just because the person appears on a United States OFAC sanctions list. The judgment focuses on the EU right of consumers to access a basic payment account and the limited grounds banks may use to deny that access. For banks and compliance teams, the practical message is that sanctions screening must be tied to EU anti-money laundering and terrorist financing rules, not treated as a blanket reason to exclude customers. Banks should document the legal basis for refusals and avoid relying only on non-EU lists unless EU law or national implementing rules clearly require it.
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Key Changes
- Clarifies that banks may refuse a basic payment account only on legally recognised grounds linked to EU anti-money laundering and terrorist financing rules.
- Limits the use of foreign sanctions lists, such as the US OFAC list, as a standalone basis for denying account access.
- Raises compliance expectations for banks to justify and document refusals instead of applying automatic exclusion rules.
Obligations
What this law requires
EU law precludes a bank from automatically refusing to open a payment account with basic features for a consumer solely because the consumer appears on the United States OFAC sanctions list, where that refusal is not grounded in EU anti-money laundering and terrorist-financing rules or national rules implementing them.
A refusal to open a payment account with basic features may be based on anti-money laundering or terrorist-financing concerns only where the refusal is connected to obligations under Directive (EU) 2015/849 or national implementing measures, rather than to a non-EU sanctions list alone.
When assessing access to a payment account with basic features, banks must respect the consumer access framework in Article 16(4) of Directive 2014/92/EU and may rely only on legally recognised grounds for refusal.
Banks should document the legal basis for any refusal to open a payment account with basic features, especially where sanctions-screening results are involved, to show that the refusal is tied to applicable EU or national AML/CTF requirements.