Financial Regulatory News
Financial Regulatory News

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Banking Law

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

by on Oct 10, 2024
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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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BaFin Declines to Act Against PFOFs (For Now)

by and on Apr 18, 2024
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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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Licence requirement for credit service providers – services for non-performing loans now require a licence

by on Feb 28, 2024
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When the Secondary Credit Market Act (Kreditzweitmarktgesetz) came into force on 30 December 2023, services relating to non-performing loans, i.e. loans that are no longer being settled or are at risk of default, will require a licence. Companies that already provide credit services today had to register with BaFin in February and state that they will continue to provide these services and now have until April to submit a licence application. A transitional regulation will then apply to them, under which the services can initially still be provided without a licence. In addition, the sale of NPLs by credit institutions [...]

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Update for securities institutions: German Securities Institutions Owner Control Ordi-nance published

by on Jan 17, 2024
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On January 15, 2024, the German Securities Institutions Owner Control Ordinance was published in the Federal Law Gazette and thus entered into force today, January 16, 2024.

Owner control procedures for securities institutions

The Securities Institutions Owner Control Ordinance regulates the material and formal requirements for the acquisition of a significant shareholding in a regulated securities institution (so-called owner control procedure).

A significant or qualified shareholding is defined as the direct or indirect holding of shares in a company that represents at least 10% of the capital or voting rights of this company or that otherwise enables the exercise of [...]

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ESG, home office and real estate transactions – BaFin publishes 7th MaRisk amendment

by on Jul 6, 2023
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The German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (“BaFin“) published the seventh amendment to the Minimum Requirements for Risk Management of Banks (“MaRisk“) on June 29, 2023.
The MaRisk codify BaFin’s administrative practice on risk management for German banks, in particular with respect to business organization and outsourcing, and in doing so substantiates the statutory requirements of Section 25a of the German Banking Act (“KWG“).
The amendments range from requirements of the European Banking Authority (“EBA“) for lending and monitoring to exceptions for securities trading in the home office and the managing of ESG and real estate risks.



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Stability through regulation

by on May 15, 2023
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The financial industry is once again facing uncertainty and turbulence, caused in particular by the demise of some banks and problems in the crypto scene. In view of the current regulatory density, the question arises whether this is sufficient to ensure the stability of the financial industry and whether it can actually help to create market security and trust. Renate Prinz classifies the current developments in the Börsen-Zeitung.

Click here to read the full article in [...]

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Amendment of the Owner Control Regulation

by on Jan 2, 2023
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On December 28, 2022, the amended “Regulation on Notifications in Accordance with Section 2c of the German Banking Act (Kreditwesengesetz – KWG) and Section 104 of the German Insurance Supervision Act (Versicherungsaufsichtsgesetz – VAG)”, the Owner Control Regulation (Inhaberkontrollverordnung – InhKontrollV, also referred to as Holder Control Regulation by BaFin), became effective. The amendment expands the scope of the documents and declarations to be submitted, but at the same time contains partial relief for the party subject to the notification requirement.

Consideration of the changes to the KWG and the VAG

The amendments to the InhKontrollV take into account the [...]

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The year is drawing to a close – what’s new for 2023?

by on Dec 19, 2022
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As the year draws to a close, it is worth taking a look at new regulations at the start of the year: As of January 1, the new Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) on the EU Disclosure Regulation will apply to financial market participants and financial advisors. With the Disclosure Regulation, which already came into force in March 2021, respective companies must prove how sustainable their products are, the extent to which ESG criteria, i.e. ecological and social standards and good corporate governance, are observed and pursued and which strategies are applied here.

The Disclosure and Taxonomy Regulation applies to financial [...]

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ESG risks & Co. in the 7th MaRisk update

by on Oct 14, 2022
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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



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New BaFin circulars on liquidity standards

by on Sep 2, 2022
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In August, BaFin published new circulars on the quantitative liquidity standards of the CRR (Capital Requirements Regulation), which, in particular,

  • address the regulatory treatment of off-balance sheet products in the structural liquidity ratio (Net Stable Funding Ratio – NSFR or “simplified NSFR”) as well as
  • adjust the materiality criteria for annual reporting (Art. 23 of Delegated Regulation 2015/61).

The two circulars are relevant for all institutions to which Article 6 (2) CRR apply and which are classified as “Less Significant Institutions (LSIs)” pursuant to Article 6 (4) SSM Regulation, as well as for all institutions pursuant to Section [...]

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