General Information

There are many business and investment opportunities in Canada. The country has a dynamic business environment, a skilled workforce and competitive costs. In addition, market access for businesses is facilitated by the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the European Union. The purpose of this free trade agreement is to eliminate trade barriers between the two markets.

Means of Payment & Banking Specificities

Banking products and vocabulary may differ from French practices. In addition, banking compliance rules are extremely strict in Canada. It is therefore strongly recommended to be accompanied by your French bank to have access to local banking services. This saves time and helps avoid pitfalls.

Some documents required to open an account may be requested such as: registration certificate, articles of incorporation, capitalisation table, identification of partners and signatories and bank recommendation letter among other things. This approach is linked to an important objective of the country to combat money laundering and terrorist activities, which requires banks to carry out in-depth checks on customers, particularly foreign shareholders. These are Know Your Customer (KYC) measures.

Checks are not recommended as a means of payment. Remedies for non-payment are often costly, cumbersome and random.

The concept of credit history is very important in the country. You have to prove that you are a good payer. A guarantee from the bank parent company may be requested in order to obtain local financing for a Canadian subsidiary of a French company that has no credit history in Canada.