ESG query obligation will also apply to German investment intermediaries (Finanzanlagenvermittler)
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
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?
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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BaFin considers dark patterns in trading apps and trading portals to be unlawful
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 [...]
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Understanding the regulatory landscape for crypto-assets in Germany and the EU
Currently, you can read summaries and briefings about the new crypto asset market regulation (“MiCAR”) everywhere. Certainly MiCAR has the potential to give the EU crypto market a huge boost. From what we have seen so far, regulation for new business models, especially in the fintech market, is not as bad as everyone has assumed so far.
Renate Prinz puts the developments in FinExtra in perspective. Click here for the [...]
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McDermottTech 2022 – Recap
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
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ESG risks & Co. in the 7th MaRisk update
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 [...]
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FinTech Market: Regulation of crypto assets in Germany and the EU
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 [...]
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Article in Libra: EU creates uniform rules for dealing with crypto assets
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 [...]
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New BaFin circulars on liquidity standards
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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