The French Financial Markets Authority (AMF) Mediator published a case note on employee savings plans highlighting that consolidating multiple company savings plans (plan d’épargne entreprise, PEE) with a single account keeper can reduce account-keeping fees but can also lead to adverse outcomes if employees are not clearly informed, including losing the ability to request early withdrawal based on termination of a previous employment contract. In the case reviewed, an employee transferred in 2023 the assets from her former employer’s PEE into her new employer’s PEE with the same account keeper, then later requested early release in September 2024 on the ground of termination of her prior employment. The account keeper refused, stating that once the assets were consolidated into the new employer’s single PEE, the employee could no longer rely on termination of the previous employment relationship to trigger early withdrawal for the transferred amounts. While this was consistent with the legal framework, the Mediator noted that the portability form available online did not describe this consequence and asked for an explicit warning and an exceptional release. The account keeper agreed to update the form to state that opting to consolidate plans results in losing the ability to unlock, in advance, assets acquired under the previous employment for the “termination of employment contract” reason, and it reimbursed the employee the amounts transferred through portability. The Mediator also reiterates that after termination of employment an employee can request early withdrawal of PEE savings at any time after leaving the company (including beyond six months), but that this termination ground does not allow early release of retirement savings. Transfers between schemes can only involve cash (not securities) and consolidation does not change the dates when the savings become available.

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