Financial Regulatory News
Financial Regulatory News

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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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ZAG-MaRisk

by on Jun 17, 2024
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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

by on Apr 30, 2024
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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

by on Apr 24, 2024
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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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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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FinmadiG and KMAG – Implementation of European crypto-financial market regulation in Germany

by on Jan 29, 2024
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The German legislator has responded to the harmonization of European financial market regulations: In October 2023, the Federal Ministry of Finance published the draft bill for the Act on the Digitization of the Financial Market (Finanzmarktdigitalisierungsgesetz – “FinmadiG“), followed by the publication of the government draft of the FinmadiG just one month later.

MiCAR, DORA and money transfers – what does the FinmadiG implement?

The FinmadiG is intended to implement the following EU regulations on digital financial market regulation:

  • Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (“MiCAR”): The first EU-wide uniform set of rules for markets in crypto assets (we provided information here, for [...]

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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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United Kingdom’s digital pound meets public backlash – Why?

by on Jul 17, 2023
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It’s not only the EU with its plans for a digital Euro that’s addressing the matter of Central Bank Digital Currency (“CBDC“). The UK has also unveiled an ambitious roadmap for the introduction of a ‘Britcoin’ by 2030. In a conversation with Cointelegraph, Annabelle Rau sheds light on the impacts of CBDCs on privacy, financial inclusion, and the risks of bank runs.

Follow this link to the full version of the article on [...]

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ESG query obligation will also apply to German investment intermediaries (Finanzanlagenvermittler)

by on Feb 3, 2023
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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 [...]

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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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