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Stand:updated on 01.01.2021 | Topic Authorisation Search companies

Before banks, financial services providers, asset management companies, insurers or pension funds can commence operations, they need written authorisation from BaFin. An exception applies to companies from another signatory state to the Agreement on the European Economic Area, which simply must notify BaFin of their intention to provide cross-border services or establish a branch in Germany. This is known as “notification procedure” or “European Passport”.

You can search for companies which hold an authorisation, have passed the notification procedure as specified above or have established a representative office in Germany by clicking the Database of companies link. Please also read the search tips and legal information.

Search tips for Database of companies

In order to search for individual companies, please enter the name in question in the “Companies” search field. In addition to the name and address of a particular company, the search results will also provide information on its activities and the types of authorisation it holds. The select-field “Category” helps you to restrict your search to particular types of company (e.g. “Credit institutions” or “Life insurers”). Leave the “Companies” field blank if you wish to receive a list of all companies or of all companies in a particular category. The alphabetic fields permit you to set a filter on companies with a particular initial letter. “Other” filters for company names beginning with numbers, particular vowels such as Ä, Ö or Ü, or special characters.
The search can be carried out using either small or capital letters. If you wish to search for a particular part of a company name other than the beginning, please enter the wildcard * before the search term. In addition, the software automatically adds * to the end of any search term, which means that company names do not need to be typed completely. As a rule, only the wildcards * for any sequence of letters and ? for an individual letter are permitted.

Legal information on Databases and lists

Please note: Great care has been taken in compiling all the information contained herein. However, BaFin accepts no liability for the completeness and accuracy of the information. BaFin also expressly states that it accepts no liability for the existence or quality of particular investment products offered by the institutions or for the attainability of any forecast income, earnings or profits.

Database of companies

Additional information

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Publications on this topic

Mar­ket en­try: In­for­ma­tion re­gard­ing the au­tho­ri­sa­tion pro­ce­dure for banks and fi­nan­cial ser­vices providers on bafin.de now avail­able in En­glish

New section “Market entry“ replaces the previous section “Authorisation” on the bafin.de website.

In­for­ma­tion for as­set man­age­ment com­pa­nies

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In­for­ma­tion for Mi­FID firms

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