Federal Financial Supervisory Authority
The Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (German: Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht) better known by its abbreviation BaFin is the financial regulatory authority for Germany. It is an independent federal institution with headquarters in Bonn and Frankfurt and falls under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Finance (Germany). BaFin supervises about 2,700 banks, 800 financial services institutions and over 700 insurance undertakings.
History
BaFin was formed on 1 May 2002 with the passing of the Financial Services and integration Act (German: Gesetz über die integrierte Finanzaufsicht (FinDAG)) on 22 April 2002. The aim of this legislation was to create one integrated financial regulator that covered all financial markets.
BaFin was created by the merger of the three supervisory agencies, the Federal Banking Supervisory Office (German: Bundesaufsichtsamt für das Kreditwesen (BAKred)), the Federal Supervisory Office for the Securities Trading (German: Bundesaufsichtsamt für den Wertpapierhandel (BAWe)), and the Federal Insurance Supervisory Office (German: Bundesaufsichtsamt für das Versicherungswesen (BAV)).