BaFin

BaFin, the Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht, is Germany's integrated financial supervisor, authorising and policing banks, insurers and investment firms from Bonn and Frankfurt. Since 2014 it has shared banking supervision with the European Central Bank, and it applies the EU rulebook — MiFID II and the ESMA retail leverage caps — to any firm serving German clients. For a trader the questions BaFin answers are narrow but decisive. A German-authorised broker holds client money at a credit institution outside its own balance sheet, and its clients fall under a statutory investor compensation scheme that pays 90% of a claim up to €20,000 if the firm fails and cannot return the money. BaFin also issues product-intervention orders, publishes a running list of firms operating without authorisation, and maintains a company database in which an authorisation can be confirmed before any deposit is made.