E-money and payments · BaFin
German e-money and payment institution licensing (BaFin)
Germany is the largest payments market in the European Union and BaFin authorisation is among the most exacting ways into it. A German permission signals that a firm has satisfied a supervisor with little appetite for ambiguity, which carries weight well beyond Germany's borders.
The regulator
BaFin supervises payment and e-money institutions under the Payment Services Supervision Act, and its expectations on governance, outsourcing, and IT risk have tightened considerably in recent years following high-profile failures in the German payments sector. Applicants should expect detailed scrutiny of who actually controls the business.
What the licence permits
Regulated under the BaFin
- Issue electronic money to German and EEA customers
- Execute payment transactions and issue payment instruments
- Acquire card and account-based transactions for merchants
- Passport the permission into every other EEA state
Who it suits
Firms serving German consumers or merchants, and groups that want the strongest possible EU supervisory signal behind their payments business.
Market access
Full EEA passporting from the bloc’s largest domestic market, with direct access to German banking and card infrastructure.
What to weigh
BaFin is thorough rather than fast, and it is unimpressed by structures where German substance is nominal. Firms that want a supervisor to take at face value what they are told should look elsewhere.
We run the Germany application end to end
Whether you build from new or acquire an existing licensed entity, BrokLicense handles incorporation, the regulator application, the AML and compliance framework, safeguarding and banking arrangements, and the operating stack. You stay the principal. We do the work, in confidence, and stay on for compliance once you are live.
Cost, capital, and timelines depend on your model and are set out in a first consultation, under NDA, not published here.
Other permissions in Germany
Related reading
- EMI vs Payment Institution: Which Licence Does Your Payments Business Actually Need?An e-money licence and a payment institution licence look interchangeable and are not. One lets you hold stored value, the other only moves it. Here is the line.
- How to Get an EMI Licence: What Electronic Money Authorisation Actually InvolvesAn EMI application is a business case, not a form. Here is what regulators examine, in what order, and where applications realistically stall.
- Where to Base an EMI: Choosing a Jurisdiction for an E-Money LicenceEvery EEA e-money licence passports to the same thirty markets, so the choice is not about reach. It is about the regulator, the banking, and the substance you can staff.
- Safeguarding: The Requirement That Decides Whether Your EMI Survives SupervisionSafeguarding is the single obligation supervisors test hardest at payments firms, and the one most often got wrong. Here is what compliant actually looks like.
E-money and payments in other Europe jurisdictions
- United KingdomFCA
- ItalyBanca d'Italia
- SpainBanco de España
- AustriaFMA
- IrelandCentral Bank of Ireland
- SwitzerlandFINMA
Discuss your mandate in confidence
Every engagement begins under a mutual NDA. Set out the firm you intend to operate and the timeline you are working to, and you leave the first consultation with a recommended jurisdiction, the route to the licence, and a defined scope of work.
Prefer email? info@broklicense.com