Its brand was eclipsed between 2005 and 2022 under HSBC ownership, but is set to be revived by the bank's new owner Cerberus Capital Management.

Financiers Ernest Méjà and Benjamin Rossier founded the Banque Suisse et Française (BSF, "Swiss and French Bank") at 27, rue Laffite in Paris, on 1 July 1894.

They had previously worked together for the Swiss Banque Fédérale S.A., whose Paris branch formed the initial core of the new venture.

In the 1960s, during the chairmanship of Jacques Merlin, CCF embarked upon a policy of further expansion, with the number of branches rising to more than 200.

In June 2021, private equity investors Cerberus Capital Management announced their plan to acquire HSBC Continental Europe's French retail operations together with the CCF brand, and merge them with their existing French bank My Money Bank [fr], aiming to "build on CCF's legacy and re-establish the brand as a leading franchise for wealth management customers in France.

"[1][needs update] The following individuals were Chair (or Chair & CEO) of the BSF, then CCF until absorption by HSBC: The BSF started the activity in rented offices at 27, rue Laffitte, in a new (1891) building on the former location of Jacques Laffitte's mansion, next door to the Paris head office of the Rothschild family bank at numbers 19-25.

In 1922, the CCF moved its head office to the prominent building at 103, Champs-Elysées, previously the Elysée Palace Hotel designed by architect Georges Chedanne [fr], built by the Compagnie Internationale des Grands Hotels and opened on 10 May 1899 ahead of the Exposition Universelle of 1900.

It was then announced that the property, owned by Qatar since 2010, would be repurposed to become the Parisian flagship store of Christian Dior.