BaFin
Since it was established in May 2002, the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht - known as BaFin for short) has brought the supervision of banks and financial services providers, insurance undertakings and securities trading under one roof.
BaFin is an independent public-law institution and is subject to the legal and technical oversight of the Federal Ministry of Finance. It is funded by fees and contributions from the institutions and undertakings that it supervises. It is therefore independent of the Federal Budget.
BaFin operates in the public interest. Its primary objective is to ensure the proper functioning, stability and integrity of the German financial system. Bank customers, insurance policyholders and investors ought to be able to trust the financial system.
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BaFin’s By-Laws represent a major set of precepts for how it acts. They contain regulations governing its structure and organisation and its rights and obligations.
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Banking Supervision, Insurance Supervision and Securities Supervision/Asset Management are three different organisational units within BaFin – the so-called Directorates.
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BaFin must cover its expenditure entirely out of its own income. It receives no funding from the Federal budget. BaFin raises the funds required to cover its costs from the undertakings it supervises instead. The legal foundation for this is the Act Establishing the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Finanzdienstleistungsaufsichtsgesetz – FinDAG).
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The large number of players operating on the global financial markets has been increasing steadily for many years now. Even though there is no legal framework that is binding internationally, markets are still expanding across borders. Financial supervision, however, is still largely inward-looking, since sovereign powers usually end at the national border.
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Article 144 of the recast Banking Directive (Directive 2006/48/EC) stipulates that all EU member states must publish information on national implementation of Basel II. To mark the German implementation of Basel II the Deutsche Bundesbank and BaFin have therefore published a joint website.
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