Information for payment institutions

Pursuant to section 8 (1) of the Payment Services Oversight Act (Zahlungsdiensteaufsichtsgesetz, ZAG), an institution wishing to provide payment services as a payment institution in Germany, commercially or on a scale which requires a commercially organised business undertaking, needs written authorisation from the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht, or BaFin). Pursuant to section 1 (1) number 5 of the Payment Services Oversight Act, payment institutions are enterprises which provide payment services commercially or on a scale which requires a commercially organised business undertaking and are not covered by numbers 1 to 4 of section 1 (1) of the Payment Services Oversight Act. The following payment service providers are therefore not payment institutions by law:

• credit institutions within the meaning of Article 4 (1) letter (a) of Directive 2006/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2006 relating to the taking up and pursuit of the business of credit institutions (OJ EU L 177/1), which are authorised to conduct business operations in Germany,
• e-money institutions within the meaning of Article 1 (3) letter (a) of Directive 2000/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 September 2000 on the taking up, pursuit of and prudential supervision of the business of electronic money institutions (OJ EC L 275/39) in conjunction with Article 158 of Directive 2006/48/EC, which are authorised to conduct business operations in Germany,
• central government, state government, local government or local government associations as well as the bodies responsible for indirect central or state government administration, insofar as they do not act in a sovereign capacity,
• the European Central Bank, the Deutsche Bundesbank as well as the other central banks of the European Union or of the other countries that are signatories to the Agreement on the European Economic Area if they do not act in their capacity as a monetary authority or as another authority.

Payment services include:

• deposit and withdrawal transactions
• payment transactions
• payment transactions involving the granting of credit
• payment authentication transactions
• digital payment transactions
• money transmission services

In addition, the Payment Services Oversight Act provides for exceptional cases in which payment services are not rendered. The following notice contains details on how to obtain authorisation.