Financial Regulatory News
Financial Regulatory News

Short, hands-on, up to date

The DORA Deadline – How to prepare, and how to use legal AI for DORA contract review

Financial Services (FS) firms need to comply with the EU’s new Digital Operational Resilience Regulation (DORA) until January 17, 2025. Compliance isn’t optional, it’s the law.

In this webinar, we speak with experts from international law firm McDermott Will & Emery on what DORA means for clients and how to leverage legal AI for contract review and remediation.

Join this webinar to learn:

  • What DORA is and who it applies to
  • What Financial Services firms need to do before January 2025
  • What contract review and remediation work needs to be done
  • How McDermott uses legal AI with BRYTER Extract [...]

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DORA Check

Digital threats and cyberattacks are increasing every year. In 2023, digital threats caused damages of more than €200 billion in Germany, of which 72% resulted from cyberattacks (source: Bitkom, study on economic protection 2023). To counter the threat to the system-critical financial sector, the EU has decided to implement a uniform, high level of security. The  Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA)  is the answer.

The regulation on digital operational resilience is intended to reduce the risks arising from the ever-increasing dependence on information and communication technology in the financial sector. In particular, DORA is expected to reduce the risk [...]

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ZuFinG II – The Next Step Towards Strengthening Germany as a Financial Hub?

Following the initial steps with the Future Financing Act (“ZuFinG I“), the Federal Ministry of Finance presented the draft of the Second Future Financing Act (“ZuFinG II-E” and “Draft Bill“) on 27 August 2024. The Draft Bill aims to further develop the German financial market and revise some of the existing regulations. The primary focus is on facilitating access to the capital markets and relieving financial actors from excessive bureaucracy.

New Regulations for Payment Service Providers Regarding Customer Funds

Payment service providers are required to safeguard customer funds they receive according to the methods outlined in the German Payment Services Supervision [...]

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ZAG-MaRisk

On May 27, 2024, the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht – “BaFin“) published the final version of the Circular on the Minimum Requirements for Risk Management of Payment Institutions (“ZAG-MaRisk“). As a result, payment institutions are subject to payment specific minimum requirements for the first time and may not rely on the Minimum Requirements for Risk Management for Credit Institutions (“MaRisk (BA)“) anymore. The ZAG-MaRisk specifies the requirements for the proper business organization of institutions on the basis of Section 27 (1) of the German Payment Services Supervision Act (Zahlungsdiensteaufsichtsgesetz – “ZAG“). In addition, it [...]

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From payment service providers to professional football clubs: New EU regulations to combat money laundering adopted

On April 24, 2024, the European Parliament adopted a new anti-money laundering legislative package to strengthen the EU’s tools to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.

The package includes

• the sixth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (“AMLD6”) as well as
• the EU Regulation on a Single Rulebook and
• a new central supervisory authority.

Extended access to beneficial ownership data

A key aspect of the new legislation is to ensure that persons with a legitimate interest – including journalists, civil society organizations, supervisory authorities and other relevant stakeholders – have direct and unhindered access to beneficial ownership [...]

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Update for crypto asset service providers: Draft bill to transfer German crypto regulation to the EU MiCAR regime

On April 5, 2024, the German Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF) published a draft bill for two regulations intended to facilitate the transition of national crypto regulation into the EU MiCAR regime.
These proposed regulations specify the simplified authorization procedure and create the possibility of submitting applications before the MiCAR regulations become fully applicable.

In brief: Simplified authorization procedure for already regulated institutions

At the end of 2023, the German legislator presented the draft Financial Market Digitization Act (“FinmadiG“), which, among other things, provides for a separate Crypto Markets Supervision Act (“KMAG“) (we [...]

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BaFin Declines to Act Against PFOFs (For Now)

The Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) will, for now, not take action against payments by third parties to investment firms (Wertpapierfirmen) for forwarding client orders (known as payment for order flow, or PFOF).

In an announcement dated 22 March 2024 BaFin stated that, should investment firms violate the PFOF prohibition with domestic clients, it will refrain from taking measures or imposing sanctions until the completion of the national legislative process in Germany. The PFOF prohibition, as contained in the amended version of the Regulation (EU) No. 600/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council (MiFIR), stipulates that investment firms [...]

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Bitcoin Halving Is Just Around the Corner

After the approval of cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States, another fundamental event for the crypto industry is on the horizon: the expected bitcoin halving in mid-April 2024.

The approval of so-called bitcoin spot ETFs by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in early January 2024 led to significant cash inflows into the crypto market, specifically targeting the market for bitcoin spot ETFs. Between March 4 and March 13, 2024, approximately US$3.8 billion was invested into the newly approved bitcoin ETFs, resulting in bitcoin reaching a new record high of around US$ 73,750.

Now, the industry eagerly [...]

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