Annabelle Rau
Annabelle Rau focuses on banking and financial services law, European financial supervisory law, and corporate law. Her advisory practice ranges from issues related to the regulation of traditional financial services to new FinTech business models, including crypto regulation. In addition, Annabelle Rau advises several listed companies on their general meetings and ongoing capital markets legal obligations.
ESG query obligation will also apply to German investment intermediaries (Finanzanlagenvermittler)
Von Annabelle Rau am Feb 3, 2023
Gepostet In Financial Services, Financial situation intermediary
ESG is also coming to German investment intermediaries! On November 11, 2022, the German Federal Ministry of Economics presented a draft bill for a Regulation Amending the Trade Notification Regulation and the Financial Investment Intermediaries Regulation. As a result of the amendment, German investment intermediaries licensed under Section 34f of the German Trade Regulation Act (Gewerbeordnung – „GewO“) will have to ask their customers about their sustainability preferences in the context of investment advice and take these into account in a suitability test. Alignment of the ESG query obligation with the European regulatory standard Since August 2022, investment advisors and...
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BaFin considers dark patterns in trading apps and trading portals to be unlawful
Von Annabelle Rau am Nov 24, 2022
Gepostet In Securities Service Providers
On November 21, 2022, the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht – “BaFin“) clarified in a statement that investment firms are not allowed to use dark patterns in trading apps or trading portals. Against this background, BaFin also published two new FAQs on the conduct of business rules for investment firms. In BaFin’s opinion, dark patterns in digital decision worlds (“choice architecture“) violate the ban of misleading information and the principle of fairness and are therefore unlawful. What are dark patterns? Dark patterns are when individual buttons in apps or on websites have a significantly lower contrast, are...
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McDermottTech 2022 – Recap
Von Renate Prinz and Annabelle Rau am Oct 21, 2022
Gepostet In Crypto Regulation, Events
From crypto, NFTs and blockchain technologies, to ethics in artificial intelligence, outsourcing and cloud deals, to trends in IP protection and enforcement in the metaverse: Together, we discussed some of the latest global trends in the technology industry at this year’s McDermottTech. Interested in the content of our panels? Click here for the videos of our panels. You can also download the PowerPoint presentation here.
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ESG risks & Co. in the 7th MaRisk update
Von Annabelle Rau am Oct 14, 2022
Gepostet In Banking Law, Sustainability Risks
On September 26, 2022, the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht – “BaFin“) published an amended draft of its circular “Minimum Requirements for Risk Management” (Mindestanforderungen an das Risikomanagement – “MaRisk“), which is now open for consultation. MaRisk codifies BaFin’s administrative practice on risk management for German banks, particularly with regard to business organization and outsourcing, and in doing so specifies the statutory requirements of Section 25a of the German Banking Act (Kreditwesengesetz – „KWG“). The draft of the 7th MaRisk amendment includes, among other things the implementation of the European Banking Authority (“EBA”) guidelines on credit allocation...
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FinTech Market: Regulation of crypto assets in Germany and the EU
Von Annabelle Rau and Renate Prinz am Sep 21, 2022
Gepostet In Crypto Regulation
In this webinar, Renate Prinz and Annabelle Rau provide an overview of the current regulatory land-scape for crypto assets and crypto service providers in Germany, also taking a look at the European level, where uniform legislation for the regulation of crypto-assets is coming soon. The following fur-ther topics will be covered: Regulatory classification of crypto-assets in Germany. Licensing requirements in connection with crypto-assets and crypto-services Overview of the regulatory requirements for entities regulated in Germany Draft European crypto regulation, in particular the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (“MiCAR”). Passporting of licenses within the EU Click here to watch the video. Interested...
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Article in Libra: EU creates uniform rules for dealing with crypto assets
Von Renate Prinz and Annabelle Rau am Sep 16, 2022
Gepostet In Crypto Regulation
In their latest article for “Libra – das Rechtsbriefing”, Renate Prinz and Annabelle Rau present the main contents of the new “Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation” (MiCAR), which the European Council, the EU Parliament and the EU Commission recently agreed on. Click here to read the entire article.
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BaFin on the new sustainability exploration in investment advice and financial portfolio management
Von Annabelle Rau am Aug 17, 2022
Gepostet In Financial Services
In a publication dated August 3, 2022, BaFin referred to the now applicable obligation of investment advisors and financial portfolio managers to conduct customer exploration with regard to the sustainability preferences of customers. Customer exploration now also includes sustainability factors, which is why the suitability check and declaration is expanded to include the aspect of the customer’s sustainability preference. The background is the Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/1253 of the European Commission, which regulates the inclusion of sustainability factors, risks and preferences in certain organizational requirements and conditions for the operation of securities firms. In practice, this means that investment advisors...
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PSD3 on the horizon?
Von Annabelle Rau am Aug 17, 2022
Gepostet In Payment Services
The European Commission is currently consulting on the revision of the Payment Service Directive 2 („PSD2“). PSD2 regulates uniform EU-wide requirements for payment service providers and the provision of payment services. In Germany, the regulatory requirements of PSD2 are implemented by the Payment Services Supervision Act (“ZAG“). In this regard, the European Banking Authority (“EBA“) submitted proposals to amend PSD2 to the European Commission in a 126-page opinion on June 23, 2022. The proposals include: Adjustments to the catalogue of payment services, e.g., streamlining and clarification to enable clearer delineation between individual payment services as well as splitting and merging...
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EU Trilogue agreed on Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (“MiCAR”)
Von Renate Prinz and Annabelle Rau am Aug 11, 2022
Gepostet In Crypto Regulation
The trilogue agreed on the final text for the Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (“MiCAR“) on June 30, 2022, which now needs to be adopted by the member states (click here for the press release). MiCAR will for the first time create a single European legal framework for crypto assets, crypto issuers and service providers. Crypto assets have been regulated in a predominantly inconsistent manner in Europe to date. MiCAR provides for specific requirements for Utility Token, Value-Referenced Token and E-Money Token. It does not include Security Tokens, which are already subject to existing EU financial services regulations, and Non-fungible...
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