With one exception, no bank allows you to open a LEP online, from a computer, tablet or smartphone. However, nothing, in principle, opposes it. Explanations.
This is one of the notable figures for the year 2023 in terms of savings: more than 2 million French people have opened a Popular savings account (LEP) between January and August (while waiting for figures for the full year). The combination of an unbeatable rate of 6% net and a promotional effort by the public authorities has enabled the settlement booklet, which has been in decline for around ten years, to take off again.
LEP, however, is far from filling up. Some 8 million French people still snub it, even though they are potentially entitled to it. And for good reason: despite recent efforts, opening a LEP remains a little more complicated than opening a Livret A, an LDDS or a bank booklet.
LEP: 8.5 million French people forget to open this great 6% booklet, are you one of them?
Hello bank and others…
LEP, in particular, retains a specificity, which constitutes a barrier for certain savers. Unlike most other savings products, it remains almost impossible to open a LEP independently, online, from a computer or smartphone.
In principle, however, nothing stands in the way. The proof: a sign allows it: Hello bank! Since October 26, BNP Paribas mobile banking customers can open a LEP from their banking application.
Open a LEP on your mobile? It is now possible in this bank
To achieve this feat, Hello bank! has quite simply taken full advantage of the possibilities offered by a digital interface created by the General Directorate of Public Finances (DGFiP). An API, in the jargon, which allows banks to automatically check the eligibility of their customers. It must be remembered, in fact: to open a LEP, you must be located below a reference tax income threshold (RFR), fixed in 2023 21,393 euros for a single person.
Clearly, this API, launched in 2021, removes the obstacle which has long slowed down the democratization of the LEP: the obligation, for the bank, to ask its client to provide, upon opening and then each year, a tax notice to verify that he is indeed entitled to the LEP.
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Not a reliability problem
Despite this advance, opening a LEP online remains impossible, except Hello bank. The product is simply missing from the online banking catalog. Even the most popular of them, BoursoBank, ignores it and is content, for the time being, to study the subject.
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Traditional banks have taken full advantage of the API developed by the tax authorities. BNP Paribas, Crdit Agricole, Crdit Mutuel Arka, La Banque Postale and SG (formerly Socit Générale) have confirmed that they use it. It even allows them, for some (Crdit Agricole, La Banque Postale, SG), to open LEPs remotely. But not independently: you always have to go through an advisor, on the telephone.
Why not go further? Mystery. The banks we questioned on the subject did not wish to elaborate on their reasons. One thing is certain: the reliability of the API does not seem to be in question. Cases of rejection of the automatic eligibility check exist, but are rare, confirms BNP Paribas.