The number of suspicious activity reports submitted to the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) in accordance with Sections 43(1) and 44 of the GwG is consistently (too) high. In order to counteract the associated burden and the increasing heterogeneity of the reports, the new GwG Reporting Regulation (GwGMeldV) is to come into force on 1 October 2025. It specifies the requirements for the content of suspicious activity reports laid down in Section 45 (1) GwG. The BMF submitted the draft GwGMeldV to the associations of entities subject to money laundering regulations for consultation at the end of April 2025 (and thus provoked some critical reactions). The final text of the regulation is expected to be published shortly.
Table of Contents
The GwGMeldV supplements, among other things, the joint guidance note published by BaFin and the FIU on 29 November 2024. This guidance note specifies in particular the characteristics of ‘immediately’ and ‘complete’ in the definition of the offence under Section 43(1) GwG. The aim of the draft regulation is to standardise incoming suspicious transaction reports in order to simplify operational analysis. In particular, this should significantly reduce the number of reports with insufficient content. The regulator is aware that implementation will entail a certain amount of additional work for the obligated entities in the short term, but this is seen as a necessary intermediate step towards a more efficient reporting system.
Electronic transmission of suspicious transaction reports and minimum content requirements
Suspicious transaction reports must be transmitted exclusively via the IT procedure provided by the FIU in electronic form and in a machine-readable format. In addition to specifying the technical transmission format, the regulation introduces binding minimum standards. A distinction is made between general (Sections 2 (2) – 3 GwGMeldV) and specific content requirements (Sections 4 – 5 GwGMeldV). If a suspicious transaction report does not meet the content requirements, the FIU may reject it in accordance with Section 6 (2) GwGMeldV.
General requirements
The general requirements must be observed for every report. Section 3 of the GwGMeldV, which specifies the facts to be described, is particularly relevant. Section 3 GwG lists the minimum information required for each report. Section 3(1) is particularly relevant, stipulating, among other things:
- the facts underlying the suspicion (No. 1),
- the business relationship concerned (No. 2),
- the beneficial owner (Section 11(5) GwG) (No. 3),
- account opening documents, including the associated identification documents (No. 6) and
- contract documentation (No. 7)
must be transmitted or provided.
Special requirements
The draft regulation provides for significantly expanded information in reports submitted in connection with a transaction. Such reports must include, among other things
- the transaction number
- the underlying procedure
- the type, date and amount of the transaction, and
- the type of asset that is the subject of the transaction or related to it
must be specified (Section 4 GwGMeldV). In the case of crypto assets within the meaning of Section 1 (29) GwG, additional information on the provider of crypto services, the holder or authorised representative of the crypto asset account and the unique identification of the account concerned is required (Section 5 GwGMeldV).
Adaptation of compliance systems
With the entry into force of the GwGMeldV, obligated entities are faced with the particular challenge of being able to retrieve the necessary data at short notice in order to maintain the principle of immediacy in the event of a suspicion of money laundering. According to the guidance provided by BaFin and the FIU, ‘without delay’ means that, in clear cases, the suspicious transaction report must be submitted on the same day or, at the latest, on the following working day. In order to comply with this requirement, an orderly data management system is necessary, which requires the corresponding adaptation of internal compliance systems by the time the regulation comes into force on 1 October 2025.
In order to be able to submit suspicious activity reports effectively, obligated entities will have to set up their reporting systems in such a way that the data and documents required under the GwGMeldV can be automatically fed into the suspicious activity report or added with just a few mouse clicks.
Conclusion
The new content requirements for suspicious activity reports are generally welcome, as they promote better comparability and usability of the information transmitted and can help reduce the administrative burden through more efficient processes. However, this poses challenges for obligated entities. In particular, existing compliance systems must be adapted so that relevant data can be accessed promptly and reliably. The responsibility for submitting suspicious activity reports will remain with the obligated parties in the future. However, if the requirements of the GwGMeldV are implemented automatically, this should ultimately lead to a reduction in the workload associated with submitting individual suspicious activity reports.
