AMF MiFID II investment firm authorisation in France
A Prestataire de Services d’Investissement (PSI) is the French vehicle for MiFID II investment services — execution, portfolio management, advice, dealing on own account. The authorisation runs on a two-authority track that trips up first-time applicants: it is the ACPR that formally grants the agrément, but only after the AMF has approved the firm’s programme d’activité — and the AMF is the conduct and market-abuse supervisor thereafter. The IFR Class 2 / Class 3 test then decides which prudential sub-regime applies. This piece walks through who grants what, exactly what the dossier must contain, how the capital and reporting obligations switch on, and three worked cases that show where the file actually stalls.
1. Who grants and who supervises
French MiFID II investment-firm authorisation runs through a two-authority architecture, and the sequence matters:
- ACPR — délivre l’agrément. Under Article L.532-1 of the Code monétaire et financier, the ACPR is the authority that issues the authorisation of an entreprise d’investissement, and supervises the prudential side afterwards (capital, K-factors, large exposures, governance, ICT/DORA, AML framework).
- AMF — approuve le programme d’activité. Before the ACPR can grant, the AMF must approve the programme of operations. Where the programme includes investment advice and/or portfolio management, the AMF approves that part directly; for the other MiFID services it transmits its observations to the ACPR. The AMF is then the conduct, market-abuse and marketing-communications supervisor.
The applicant submits a single coordinated file; the two authorities interact internally. Post-grant, AML is shared with TRACFIN. The practical consequence: the programme d’activité is not a marketing document — it is the AMF’s approval object, and it must be precise about services, instruments and client segments, because that is what the AMF signs off and what later defines the perimeter of the licence.
2. Legal basis
- Directive 2014/65/EU (MiFID II) — the services framework
- Regulation (EU) 600/2014 (MiFIR) — markets and transaction reporting
- Regulation (EU) 2019/2033 (IFR) and Directive (EU) 2019/2034 (IFD) — the investment-firm prudential framework
- Code monétaire et financier, Articles L.532-1 and following — the French authorisation regime and the ACPR/AMF split
- AMF Règlement Général and AMF Instruction DOC-2014-01 — the programme d’activité, PSI obligations and passport notification
3. MiFID II services catalogue in France
Annex I MiFID II lists the investment services; the PSI application specifies which the firm will provide, in French terms:
- Reception and transmission of orders (réception-transmission d’ordres)
- Execution of orders for the account of clients (exécution d’ordres pour compte de tiers)
- Dealing on own account (négociation pour compte propre)
- Portfolio management (gestion de portefeuille pour compte de tiers)
- Investment advice (conseil en investissement)
- Underwriting and placing of financial instruments (prise ferme; placement garanti ou non garanti)
- Operation of multilateral (MTF) and organised (OTF) trading facilities
Ancillary services — custody, currency exchange linked to investment services, investment research — are listed in Annex II and can be added to the authorisation. The chosen services drive both the AMF approval route (advice/management → AMF approves directly) and the capital floor.
4. The IFR classification — Class 1, 2 or 3
Same EU framework as for Spanish investment firms:
- Class 1 — largest firms with bank-like risk profiles; treated under CRR / CRD
- Class 2 — full IFR/IFD regime; the default for most authorised firms
- Class 3 — small and non-interconnected firms (SNI); the lighter regime
Class 3 status depends on staying below the IFR thresholds — assets under management, client orders handled, assets safeguarded, daily trading flow, and balance-sheet size, tested on a rolling basis. Cross any threshold and the firm re-classes to Class 2, with the full K-factor apparatus switching on. The classification is run at the firm’s reference date and can change year-to-year; ACPR supervises under whichever class applies.
5. Capital floors
IFR Article 9 sets the minimum permanent own-funds requirement by service profile:
| Initial capital | Applies to |
|---|---|
| €75,000 | Firms not authorised to hold client money/assets and not dealing on own account (e.g. advice, reception-transmission) |
| €150,000 | Firms holding client money/assets or executing/dealing on a matched-principal basis |
| €750,000 | Firms dealing on own account on an unmatched basis, underwriting on a firm-commitment basis, or running an MTF/OTF |
Ongoing own funds must be the higher of the initial-capital floor, the fixed-overheads requirement (a quarter of the prior year’s fixed costs), and — for Class 2 — the K-factor requirement. A firm should model all three before committing to a capital plan, because the binding constraint is often the fixed-overheads figure in year one, not the headline floor.
6. What goes in the dossier
The PSI dossier mirrors the EME / EP file structure with investment-services specifics:
- Programme d’activité — the MiFID services, client segments, geographies and financial instruments in scope; this is the AMF’s approval object and must be exact
- Business plan — three-year projections, capital, profitability under a stress scenario
- Governance map — dirigeants effectifs and key function holders, with fitness-and-propriety for each (the AMF runs conduct-side scrutiny; the ACPR the prudential side)
- Internal-control framework — conformité, contrôle permanent, contrôle périodique, with the MiFID II conflict-of-interest, best-execution and suitability policies
- ICT and operational-resilience framework aligned with DORA
- Capital plan — initial own funds, ongoing methodology, K-factor calculation where Class 2
- AML / CTF programme with a designated déclarant TRACFIN and correspondant TRACFIN
- Transaction-reporting framework — MiFIR Article 26 reporting, built and tested before grant
- Outsourcing register and shareholder structure, with fitness-and-propriety on qualifying holdings
7. Realistic timing
The statutory review period under MiFID II is six months from a complete file. End-to-end — pre-application engagement, the AMF programme approval and the ACPR feedback rounds — a first-time applicant should plan for nine-to-twelve months. Pre-application meetings with both the AMF and the ACPR are standard, and the clock only runs on a file the authorities deem complete, so an under-specified programme d’activité is the most common cause of a stalled timeline.
8. What switches on at grant
- MiFIR Article 26 transaction reporting — complete and accurate reports by the close of the following working day (T+1)
- IFR / IFD prudential reporting via SURFI and COREP-IFR
- AMF conduct returns — complaints, suitability outcomes, best-execution metrics; see the conduct piece
- AML obligations under CMF Articles L.561-1 onwards — TRACFIN reporting
- Passport notifications where services extend to other member states — see branch vs FoS
9. Worked examples
Example A — advice-only robo-adviser, AMF-led approval. A fintech wants to offer automated investment advice and reception-transmission of orders, holding no client money. Applicable rule: because the programme includes conseil en investissement, the AMF approves the programme directly; the capital floor is €75,000 (no client assets, no own-account dealing); the firm is a strong Class 3 / SNI candidate. What the firm does: it builds the suitability engine and the AMF marketing-communication controls to the AMF Doctrine, and it does not budget for a €150,000 floor. Outcome: a lighter prudential regime and an AMF-driven review — but the suitability framework carries the file, because that is where the AMF concentrates.
Example B — an EME adds own-account execution. An authorised e-money institution wants to bolt on execution of client orders and occasional matched-principal dealing. Applicable rule: holding client assets / matched-principal execution pushes the floor to €150,000, and the PSI perimeter is a separate authorisation from the EME licence. What the firm does: it files a distinct PSI dossier with a programme d’activité naming exactly those services, models the fixed-overheads requirement (likely the binding constraint), and builds MiFIR Article 26 reporting from scratch. Outcome: two live licences with two reporting catalogues — the classic under-estimation is assuming the EME AML and reporting stack covers the PSI obligations; it does not.
Example C — Class 3 firm drifts into Class 2. An SNI portfolio manager grows assets under management past the IFR threshold mid-year. Applicable rule: the SNI thresholds are tested on a rolling basis; crossing one triggers re-classification to Class 2 and the K-factor own-funds calculation. What the firm does: it should monitor the thresholds monthly, not annually, and pre-build the K-factor engine so the switch is a configuration change, not a project. Outcome: a firm that treats the threshold as a live control avoids the scramble — and the capital surprise — when it re-classes.
10. FAQ
Who actually grants the licence — AMF or ACPR?
The ACPR grants the agrément under Article L.532-1 CMF. But it can only do so after the AMF has approved the programme d’activité — directly for advice/portfolio-management services, or via observations to the ACPR for the others. Both authorities are involved; the ACPR issues the final authorisation.
Is the application filed with the AMF or the ACPR?
A single coordinated dossier is submitted; both authorities receive and work it through the joint intake procedure. The applicant deals with both during the feedback rounds.
Can I offer crypto-asset services under a PSI licence?
For instruments that fall within MiFID II (security tokens, tokenised securities) — yes. For crypto-assets within MiCA scope — a separate CASP authorisation is required.
How does client money work in France under MiFID II?
Client money is segregated in dedicated accounts, reconciled daily, with the arrangement evidenced in the dossier. Holding client assets moves the capital floor to €150,000 and sharpens the ACPR’s review of the segregation mechanics.
What is the AMF Doctrine and why does it matter in the file?
The AMF Doctrine consolidates the AMF’s policy positions on investment-services topics. The dossier must show awareness and application of the relevant pieces — particularly on marketing communications, suitability and inducements — because the AMF tests the programme against them.
When does MiFIR transaction reporting start?
On day one. Complete and accurate MiFIR Article 26 reports are due by the close of the following working day. Build and test the pipeline during the application, not after grant.
11. What to do, today
- Draft the programme d’activité as the AMF’s approval object — exact on services, instruments and client segments — because an under-specified programme stalls the whole file.
- Run the IFR Class 2 / Class 3 threshold test against the business plan, and model all three own-funds constraints (floor, fixed overheads, K-factors).
- Engage the AMF and the ACPR in coordinated pre-application meetings; build the dossier in French.
- Build and test the MiFIR Article 26 transaction-reporting layer alongside the application; it goes live on day one.
- Plan the post-grant catalogue (SURFI, COREP-IFR, MiFIR, AML, conduct) before submission, and monitor the SNI thresholds as a live control if you launch as Class 3.
Related: Investment firm authorisation in Spain · Where to base your EMI · TRACFIN — filing in France · Investment firm in Germany (BaFin) · MiFID investment firm in Luxembourg (CSSF) · MiFID II best execution, refreshed
