7 out of 10 French people fear that the State will restrict access to their savings in the event of a major crisis. This fear has a precedent in the euro zone: in 2015, Greece closed its banks for 3 weeks and capped withdrawals at 60 euros per day. In 2026, France borrows at almost 5% and its debt exceeds 119% of GDP. What led Athens to close its counters sheds light on what the French accounts are at risk.
60 euros per day and lines of retirees in front of the banks
On Monday June 29, 2015, Greeks woke up to closed banks. A decree published overnight established a “banking holiday” until July 6.
At ATMs, withdrawals were capped at 60 euros per card per day. The cards were only used to pay in Greece, and transfers abroad had to be authorized by an administrative commission.
Many retirees did not have a bank card. On July 1, nearly 1,000 agencies reopened for themselves, with an authorized withdrawal of 120 euros. The lines formed at dawn. “I worked 50 years at sea, and here I am begging for 120 euros,” said one of them in Athens.
Banks reopened on July 20, after 3 weeks of closure. The ceiling increased to 60 euros per day per bank, cumulative up to 420 euros per week. The latest restrictions, particularly on transfers abroad, were only lifted on September 1, 2019. That is more than 4 years later.
42 billion euros taken out of banks in 8 months
Between December 2014 and July 2015, 42 billion euros of deposits left Greek banks, according to the Bank of Greece. Negotiations between the Tsipras government and its creditors were bogged down, and savers were withdrawing their money month after month. In June, 7.7 billion were still released.
To cope with these withdrawals, Greek banks relied on emergency liquidity aid, paid by the Bank of Greece under the control of the ECB. On June 27, the government announced a referendum on the creditors' proposals. The next day, the ECB maintained the ceiling of this aid at its level of June 26, without raising it.
On July 6, she toughened her conditions. She explained that the guarantees provided by the banks to obtain this aid were largely assets linked to the Greek state, whose financial situation weighed on their value.
The withdrawals had emptied the banks, and their guarantees depended on a state in crisis. When emergency aid stopped increasing, the Greek government closed the counters to stop the bleeding.
119% debt, 16% equity: where is France
At the end of June, French public debt reached 119.1% of GDP according to Eurostat. The 3rd in the Union behind Greece and Italy. Ironically, the Greek debt is falling: 140.8% of GDP, 11 points less than a year earlier, when the French gained almost 4 points.
On October 21, the 10-year government borrowing rate reached 5%, a first since 2002. Rating agencies are threatening to downgrade the country's rating, and the 2027 budget is struggling to get through the Assembly.
However, French banks are facing the storm with solid reserves. At the end of 2025, their higher quality capital represented on average 16.2% of their risk-weighted assets, according to the ACPR, the banking supervisor. Their short-term liquidity ratio reached 144%. This ratio measures the liquidity available to cash one month of withdrawals during a crisis, and the regulatory minimum is 100%.
The French have not lost confidence in their banks either. 74% say they trust them, a record according to the annual barometer of the deposit guarantee fund (FGDR), published last July. This figure does not contradict the survey carried out in June by OpinionWay: you can trust your bank and fear a political decision in the event of a major crisis.
France, finally, does not need European creditors to make ends meet. It continues to place its debt on the markets, at a higher price.
2 days, 7 days, 6 months: what the law provides
The tools provided by law primarily target a bank in difficulty. If a bank is bankrupt or about to fail, the resolution authority can suspend its payments for up to 2 business days while it decides its fate. This suspension may affect deposits, including those covered by the guarantee, after careful consideration.
If the bank fails, the FGDR reimburses up to 100,000 euros per customer and per bank, within 7 working days. On that day, customers lose access to their accounts. The FGDR advises them to have an account opened in another establishment, to receive compensation and continue to pay their bills.
On life insurance, the Sapin 2 law allows withdrawals to be temporarily limited, for a maximum of 6 months, if financial stability is threatened. This power has never been used.
None of these tools plan to block the bank accounts of an entire country. European law prohibits in principle restrictions on capital movements, with limited exceptions, which Cyprus in 2013 and Greece in 2015 made use of. A general Greek-style closure would imply a crisis of another magnitude, with massive withdrawals and banks cut off from their financing. We are not there yet.
In 2015, foreign cards escaped the ceiling
One detail of the Greek decree of June 2015 says it all: withdrawals with a card issued outside Greece were not capped. A tourist could withdraw whatever he wanted from the ATM, while Greek bank customers waited for their 60 euros.
Faced with a crisis, access to money depends on the routes available to withdraw or move it. A second account in another bank adds one, as recommended by the FGDR. An account opened in another European country adds another, to be declared to the tax authorities.
Crypto adds a path of another nature. In a self-custody wallet, stablecoins indexed to the euro or dollar can be transferred at any time, without going through your bank's application. The return in euros goes through a platform or a bank, with its delays.
On a DeFi lending protocol, the saver can lend their stablecoins to borrowers for a fee. The interest they pay can far exceed that of regulated savings. Keeping keys and choosing protocols must be learned, because a mistake cannot be made up for.
A Greek scenario would imply massive withdrawals and banks running out of liquidity, 2 conditions that the figures do not show in France today. In 2015, those who withdrawn with a card issued outside Greece escaped the 60 euro ceiling.
