March 17, 2010, 02:07 CET
Information for financial services institutions
Since the Sixth Act Amending the Banking Act came into force, enterprises which provide financial services commercially or on a scale which requires a commercially organised business undertaking (financial services institutions) have been supervised according to the same rules as credit institutions.
Financial services comprise
- factoring,
- finance lease,
- investment broking,
- investment advice,
- operation of a multilateral trading system,
- placement business,
- contract broking,
- portfolio management,
- own-account trading provided as a service for third parties,
- factoring,
- finance lease and
- asset management.
To be able to better monitor the "grey capital market", the following were also classified as financial services:
- non-EEA deposit broking and
- foreign currency dealing
The purchase and sale of financial instruments on an own-account basis which does not constitute a service for others within the meaning of sentence 1 number 4 (own-account trading) is also deemed to be a financial service (own-account business).
As from 1 January 1998, therefore, anyone wishing to provide financial services to others commercially or on a commercial scale in the Federal Republic of Germany requires a licence pursuant to section 32 (1) BA. Details about obtaining such a licence can be found in "Notice on the granting of authorisation to provide financial services pursuant to section 32 (1) of the German Banking Act".
The Deutsche Bundesbank is involved in prudential supervision, in particular, through its role of receiving and evaluating the documents submitted in compliance with institutions' reporting requirements under the Banking Act.
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