BGH overturns clauses on custody fees
Negative interest is dead; long live negative interest? In two now published decisions of 4 February 2025 (XI…
The EBA draft on the AML package – Change is the only constant
On 6 March 2021, the European Banking Authority (EBA) opened a consultation on draft Level 2 texts under…
The End of the ODR platform – changes to Terms and Conditions are pending
As of 20 July 2025, the EU will discontinue the Online Dispute Resolution Platform (ODR Platform). This platform…
EBA’s Report on Tokenised Deposits
On 12 December 2024, the European Banking Authority (‘EBA’) published its ‘Report on tokenised deposits’ (‘EBA Report’). [1] …
“Fair” merchant fees for the acceptance of the Digital Euro?
In its charm offensive for the Digital Euro (D€), the ECB is primarily targeting merchants. This is an…
FIBE Berlin 2025: The Fintech Festival for the Future of the Financial Industry
On April 9 and 10, 2025, Berlin will once again become the hub of the German and international…
AMLA – The EU’s new anti-money laundering authority
The Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) will gradually become operational from mid-2025. Direct supervision of a certain group of…
BaFin and the Finfluencers – Part 2
In an update to its guidance note on the concept of investment advice, BaFin confirms that finfluencers generally…
What do the party manifestos have to say about ‘our’ payment topics?
Some highlights from the German federal election manifestos 2025 Payments are not just a topic for lawyers. It…
BaFin and the Finfluencers – Part 1
Influencers who provide product recommendations via social media are engaging in a business model that has long become…
Escrow accounts are becoming segregated accounts (only)
Changes to the German safeguarding regime of customer funds pursuant to Section 17 of the German Payment Services…
EBA specifies e-money definition – What does this mean in practice?
The definition of e-money plays an important role in practice, as it determines the regulatory requirements for products…
BaFin Guidance Notice on crypto-asset services under MiCAR – authorisation requirement notification procedure (2)
On 3 January 2025, BaFin published the Guidance Notice on crypto-asset services MiCAR (“Guidance Notice”). In addition to…
Quo vadis, financial sector? DORA comes into effect
The Regulation (EU) 2022/2554 on digital operational resilience in the financial sector (DORA) is a significant milestone in…