Federal Financial Supervision Authority (BaFin)

January 2, 2023

BaFin publishes circular on notifications of persons under the KAGB

BaFin published circular 01/2023, which enables companies under BaFin’s direct supervision to submit certain notifications of persons pursuant to the German Investment Code (KAGB) via its reporting and publication platform (MVP) as of January 2, 2023. This primarily relates to the appointment of members of administrative and supervisory bodies. For the future, it is planned to expand the MVP to include other notifications of persons, such as the notification of the intention to appoint and the resignation of managing directors.

More information(in German) is available here and here.

Federal Financial Supervision Authority (BaFin)

December 20, 2022

Post-trade transparency: BaFin allows deferred publication of transactions

BaFin extended its current regulations on publication deadlines for transactions in financial instruments until July 2, 2023, thus allowing transactions in financial instruments to continue to be published later than generally required by MiFIR. By way of background, since January 3, 2018, new rules on post-trade transparency for transactions in financial instruments have applied under MiFIR. In principle, details of transactions in financial instruments on a trading venue must be published in real time or as soon as technically possible. However, national supervisory authorities may allow later publication under certain conditions.

More information (in German) is available here.

Federal Financial Supervision Authority (BaFin)

December 16, 2022

EU Disclosure Regulation: Starting signal for more transparency

From January 1, 2023, the Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) on the EU Disclosure Regulation, which had entered into force in March 2021, will apply to financial market participants and financial advisors. The aim is to make it easier for private and institutional investors to see how sustainable the investments underlying a financial product are. The RTS specify the EU Disclosure Regulation’s requirements for disclosures on how investment decisions made by the financial market participant adversely affect environmental, social and governance issues. BaFin answers national questions and application questions from supervised entities regarding the EU Disclosure Regulation itself and submits other questions on the RTS to the Joint Committee of the ESAs.

More information (in German) is available here.

Federal Financial Supervision Authority (BaFin)

December 12, 2022

BaFin publishes circular on high-risk states

BaFin published the Circular 09/2022 (GW), providing information on high-risk states. These are third countries that have strategic deficiencies in their systems to combat money laundering and terrorist financing and thus pose significant risks to the international financial system. The circular includes legal consequences and measures to be observed regarding the listed countries.

More information (in German) is available here.

Federal Financial Supervision Authority (BaFin)

December 7, 2022

BaFin publishes translation of EIOPA guidelines

EIOPA published a nonbinding guide on sustainability-related advisory duties in July 2022. These apply to, among other things, the sale of insurance investment products, where intermediaries have been obliged since August 2, 2022, to ask customers about their sustainability preferences and to take these into account in product selection and advice. The aim of the EIOPA guide is to promote a better understanding of the new regulations and to support market participants in correctly implementing the legal requirements. Due to the particular relevance of the topic, BaFin has therefore published a German-language translation of the guide.

More information (in German) is available here.

Federal Financial Supervision Authority (BaFin)

December 5, 2022

BaFin publishes administrative orders on the notification of outsourcings

BaFin published different administrative orders that specify obligations that supervised entities must comply with when notifying outsourcing arrangements. In addition, outsourcing notifications must now be mandatorily submitted in electronic form via BaFin’s Reporting and Publication Platform (MVP), in line with supervisory regulations.

More information (in German) is available here.