BNP Paribas, Société Générale and La Banque Postale have joined forces to launch a PayPal-style online payment system called Paylib.
The three banks are inviting their combined customer base of 23 million to register for the service and link a card to their Paylib account.
They can then make payments at participating retailers' Web sites by entering their e-mail, password and a code generated by a mobile app.
The banks have already signed up several major retailers - including Showroomprive.com, Voyages-SNCF.com, La Poste and Leroy Merlin - which will integrate Paylib over the next few months.
The partners say that the service will make online and mobile shopping both simpler for customers as well as safer because their data will not be stored outside of their bank.