Anti-Money Laundering Officer

(1) Obliged entities under section 2(1), nos. 1 to 3, 6, 7, 9 and 15 shall appoint an anti-money laundering officer at senior management level and a deputy. The anti-money laundering officer is responsible for compliance with the money-laundering-law provisions; this is without prejudice to the responsibility of the management body. The anti-money laundering officer reports directly to the management.
(2) The supervisory authority may exempt an obliged entity from the obligation to appoint an anti-money laundering officer where it is ensured that
1. there is no risk of loss of, or gaps in, information on account of a division-of-labour corporate structure, and
2. other arrangements are made, on the basis of a risk-based assessment, to prevent business relationships and transactions connected with money laundering or terrorist financing.
(3) The supervisory authority may order that obliged entities under section 2(1), nos. 4, 5, 8, 10 to 14 and 16 appoint an anti-money laundering officer, where it considers this appropriate. In the case of obliged entities under section 2(1), no. 16, such an order should be made where the obliged entity's principal activity consists in trading in high-value goods.
(4) Obliged entities shall notify the supervisory authority in advance of the appointment of the anti-money laundering officer and of that officer's deputy, or of the termination of their appointment. The appointment of a person as anti-money laundering officer or as deputy must be revoked at the request of the supervisory authority where the person does not have the requisite qualifications or reliability.
(5) The anti-money laundering officer must carry out his or her activity in Germany. He or she must be the point of contact for the law enforcement authorities, for the authorities responsible for the investigation, prevention and elimination of dangers, for the Financial Intelligence Unit, and for the supervisory authority as regards compliance with the relevant provisions. He or she must be given sufficient powers and the means necessary for the proper performance of his or her function. In particular, he or she must be granted, or given access to, unimpeded access to all information, data, records and systems that may be relevant to the performance of his or her tasks. The anti-money laundering officer shall report directly to the management. Insofar as the anti-money laundering officer intends to file a report under section 43(1) or is responding to a request for information from the Financial Intelligence Unit under section 30(3), he or she is not subject to instructions from the management in that respect.
(6) The anti-money laundering officer may use data and information exclusively for the performance of his or her tasks.
(7) The anti-money laundering officer and the deputy shall not be placed at a disadvantage in their employment relationship on account of the performance of their tasks. Termination of the employment relationship is not permitted, unless facts exist that entitle the responsible body to terminate the relationship for good cause without notice. Following removal as anti-money laundering officer or as deputy, termination is not permitted within one year of the end of the appointment, unless the responsible body is entitled to terminate the relationship for good cause without notice.