Payment Transactions - PwC Establishment of Banks Blog

3rd edition of Banking Business in Germany is now available as an eBook

The third edition of this practical guide on establishing a bank in Germany has been edited by Jens Rönnberg (PwC) and Dr Oliver Wagner (Association of Foreign Banks in Germany).

The authors Christian Wilhelm Baumann, Sascha Demgensky, Dr Nicole Elert, Markus Erb, Christina Grulke, Eva Handrick, Holger Junghanns, Dr Eric Krause, Marco Libudda, Hartmut Liehr, Jens Marth, Dr Angelika Meyding-Metzger, Thomas Karl Otto, Martina Rangol, Kristina Rölver, Jens Rönnberg, Alice Dagmar Romisch, Dr Martin Schulte, Dr Jörg Schwerdtfeger, Marc Seedorf, Hiltrud Thelen-Pischke, Wolfgang Vahldiek, Dr Oliver Wagner, Christian Wettlaufer, Christine Wicker, Daniel Wildhirt, Rainer Wilken, Maxi Wilkowski and Herbert Zerwas have revised and expanded this edition.

Banking business in Germany – revised edition soon available

As time goes by …

Time is relative. But from a regulatory perspective the last four years since 2007 brought close to epochal changes. In nearly all areas of the financial industry the measures taken to scope with the financial crisis led to fundamental amendments and new regulations which already transformed the industry sustainably and will further do so in future.

What you can look forward to

The transitional provisions of ZAG are about to expire

On 30 April 2011 the transitional provisions of the Payment Services Act (ZAG) are going to end. According to that, companies who already had a license to provide money transfer business and credit card business before 25 December 2007, and companies who have provided their activities in the area of payment services (for example, the payment authentication business) without a license before 25 December 2007 can make use of the transitional provisions until 30 April 2011. However, starting on 1 May 2011, they require a licence according to the Payment Services Act to carry out the respective payment services. This licensing procedure includes the submission of extensive documentation to the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin). Amongst others the submission of documents concerning the proof of the required initial capital, the business plan including a budget planning for the first three fiscal years as well as a description of the internal control mechanisms and the representation of the organizational structure is necessary. Since BaFin has to decide about the application only within three months after the complete documentation was submitted and since it is no longer allowed to conduct payment services according to the Payment Services Act without respective authorization after the expiry of the transitional provision, there might be a need for action.

Category: Payment Transactions