You are thinking about the "droit au compte" (right to a bank account) https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Droit_au_compte https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Droit_au_comp

You are thinking about the "droit au compte" (right to a bank account) https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Droit_au_compte https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Droit_au_compte but I think there may be some confusion. People exercise their "droit au compte" by making a request the Banque de France, but they do not have an account there: Banque de France designates some regular commercial bank which is then legally obliged to provide them with an account. The French Wikipedia page says that, in practice, this is usually La Banque postale: it's a pretty normal bank that I don't think anyone discriminates against.