Definitions; power to issue a statutory instrument

(1) Credit institutions are undertakings that conduct banking business on a commercial basis or on a scale that requires a commercially organised business operation. Banking business means 1. the acceptance of third-party funds as deposits or other unconditionally repayable funds from the public, unless the claim for repayment is securitised in bearer or order debt securities, irrespective of whether interest is paid (deposit business), 1a. the business designated in section 1(1), second sentence, of the Pfandbrief Act (Pfandbrief business), 2. the granting of money loans and acceptance credits (lending business); 3. the purchase of bills of exchange and cheques (discount business), 4. the acquisition and disposal of financial instruments in one's own name for the account of another (principal broking business), 5. the custody and administration of securities for others (custody business), 6. activity as a central securities depository within the meaning of subsection (6), 7. entering into an obligation to reacquire, before maturity, loan receivables previously sold, 8. the assumption of sureties, guarantees, and other warranties for others (guarantee business), 9. carrying out cashless cheque collection (cheque collection business), bill collection (bill collection business), and issuing traveller's cheques (traveller's cheque business), 10. underwriting financial instruments for one's own risk for placement, or assuming equivalent guarantees (underwriting business), 11. (repealed) 12. activity as a central counterparty within the meaning of subsection (31).
(1a) Financial services institutions are undertakings that provide financial services for others on a commercial basis or on a scale that requires a commercially organised business operation, and that are not credit institutions. Financial services means 1. brokering transactions involving the acquisition and disposal of financial instruments (investment broking), 1a. giving personal recommendations to customers or their representatives relating to transactions in particular financial instruments, provided that the recommendation is based on an examination of the investor's personal circumstances or is presented as suitable for the investor, and is not issued exclusively through information distribution channels or to the public (investment advice), 1b. operating a multilateral system that brings together multiple parties' buying and selling interests in financial instruments, within the system and in accordance with fixed rules, in a way that results in a contract for the purchase of those financial instruments (operation of a multilateral trading facility), 1c. placing financial instruments without a firm underwriting commitment (placement business), 1d. operating a multilateral system that is not an organised market or a multilateral trading facility and that brings together the buying and selling interests of multiple third parties in bonds, structured finance products, emission allowances, or derivatives, within the system, in a way that results in a contract for the purchase of those financial instruments (operation of an organised trading facility), 2. the acquisition and disposal of financial instruments in another's name for the account of another (contract broking), 3. the management of individual portfolios invested in financial instruments for others, with discretion (portfolio management), 4. dealing on own account through a) continuously offering to buy and sell financial instruments at prices set by oneself, for one's own account, using one's own capital, b) frequent, organised, and systematic trading in shares, share certificates, exchange-traded funds, certificates, and other comparable financial instruments for one's own account outside an organised market or a multilateral or organised trading facility, where customer orders are executed outside a regulated market or a multilateral or organised trading facility, without a multilateral trading facility being operated (systematic internalisation), c) acquiring or disposing of financial instruments for one's own account as a service for others, or d) buying or selling financial instruments for one's own account as a direct or indirect participant of a domestic organised market or a multilateral or organised trading facility by means of a high-frequency algorithmic trading technique characterised by aa) infrastructure designed to minimise network latencies and other delays in order transmission (latencies), featuring at least one of the following facilities for the input of algorithmic orders: co-location, proximity hosting, or high-speed direct electronic access, bb) the system's ability to initiate, generate, route, or execute an order without human intervention within the meaning of Article 18 of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/565 of 25 April 2016 supplementing Directive 2014/65/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards organisational requirements and operating conditions for investment firms and defined terms for the purposes of that Directive (OJ L 87, 31.3.2017, p. 1), as amended from time to time, and cc) a high intraday message rate within the meaning of Article 19 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/565, consisting of orders, quotes, or cancellations, even where no service is provided for others (high-frequency trading), 5. brokering deposit business with undertakings whose registered office is outside the European Economic Area (third-country deposit broking), 6. qualified crypto custody business, through a) the custody and administration of cryptographic instruments for others, or b) safeguarding private cryptographic keys for others that serve to store or dispose of cryptographic instruments or crypto securities, crypto fund units, or domestic or foreign securities that can be transferred and stored using distributed ledger technology or a similar technology, 7. trading in foreign currency notes and coins (currency exchange dealing), 8. maintaining a crypto securities register under section 16 of the Act on Electronic Securities (crypto securities register management), 9. the ongoing purchase of receivables on the basis of framework agreements, with or without recourse (factoring), 10. entering into finance lease agreements as lessor, including agreements that ensure financing of material parts of the value chain, and the administration of project companies within the meaning of section 2(6), first sentence, point 17, outside the administration of an investment fund within the meaning of section 1(1) of the Capital Investment Code (finance leasing), 11. the acquisition and disposal of financial instruments outside the administration of an investment fund within the meaning of section 1(1) of the Capital Investment Code, for a community of investors who are natural persons, with discretion in selecting the financial instruments, provided that this is a focus of the product offered and is carried out for the purpose of enabling those investors to participate in the performance of the financial instruments acquired (investment management), 12. the custody and administration of securities exclusively for alternative investment funds (AIFs) within the meaning of section 1(3) of the Capital Investment Code (limited custody business). The acquisition and disposal of financial instruments for one's own account that does not constitute dealing on own account within the meaning of section 1(1a), second sentence, point 4 (proprietary business) is deemed a financial service where the proprietary business is conducted by an undertaking that 1. conducts this business on a commercial basis or on a scale that requires a commercially organised business operation, without already being an institution or a securities institution for another reason, and 2. belongs to an institutional group, a financial holding group, or a mixed financial holding group, or to a financial conglomerate, to which a CRR credit institution belongs. An undertaking that conducts proprietary business deemed a financial service under the third sentence is deemed a financial services institution. The third and fourth sentences do not apply to winding-up institutions under section 8a(1), first sentence, of the Financial Market Stabilisation Fund Act. The conditions for systematic internalisation under point 4(b) are also met where an undertaking has voluntarily submitted to the rules applicable to systematic internalisation and has applied to the Federal Institute for a licence to operate systematic internalisation. This also applies to systematic internalisation of bonds, structured finance products, and emission allowances, and of the derivatives named in Article 8a(2), first sentence, of Regulation (EU) No 600/2014. Cryptographic instruments within the meaning of this Act are digital representations of value that are not issued or guaranteed by any central bank or public authority, do not have the legal status of a currency or of money, but are accepted by natural or legal persons, on the basis of an agreement or actual practice, as a means of exchange or payment or serve investment purposes, and that can be transferred, stored, and traded electronically. The following are not cryptographic instruments within the meaning of this Act: 1. e-money within the meaning of section 1(2), third sentence, of the Payment Services Supervision Act, 2. monetary value that meets the requirements of section 2(1), point 10, of the Payment Services Supervision Act, or that is used only for payment transactions within the meaning of section 2(1), point 11, of the Payment Services Supervision Act, 3. crypto-assets within the meaning of Article 3(1), point 5, of Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 May 2023 on markets in crypto-assets and amending Regulations (EU) No 1093/2010 and (EU) No 1095/2010 and Directives 2013/36/EU and (EU) 2019/1937 (OJ L 150, 9.6.2023, p. 40), as amended by Regulation (EU) 2023/2869 (OJ L, 2023/2869, 20.12.2023), within the scope of Regulation (EU) 2023/1114, and 4. securities within the meaning of the Securities Deposit Act.
(1b) Institutions within the meaning of this Act are credit institutions and financial services institutions.
(1c) Large undertakings within the meaning of this Act are large institutions and large subsidiary undertakings, and parent financial holding companies and mixed parent financial holding companies approved under section 2f(1) that have a large institution in their group.
(2) Managers within the meaning of this Act are those natural persons who, by law, by the articles of association, or by the partnership agreement, are called upon to conduct the business and represent an institution or an undertaking in the legal form of a legal person or a commercial partnership, and those natural persons who actually conduct the business.
(2a) Internal control functions within the meaning of this Act are the risk control function, the compliance function, and internal audit.
(2b) Holders of key functions within the meaning of this Act are persons who have a material influence on the management of institutions, or of financial holding companies or mixed financial holding companies that are not exempted from approval under section 2f(4), but who are neither managers nor members of the administrative or supervisory body.
(2c) Heads of the internal control functions within the meaning of this Act are persons who, at the highest level of the hierarchy apart from the managers, are responsible for the actual day-to-day management of the institution's internal control functions.
(2d) Holders of special key functions within the meaning of this Act are holders of key functions who perform special functions. These include the heads of the internal control functions and the head of finance, insofar as they are not managers.
(3) Financial enterprises are undertakings that are neither institutions nor capital management companies or externally managed investment companies, and whose principal activity consists in 1. acquiring and holding equity participations, 2. acquiring monetary claims for consideration, 3. being a leasing project company within the meaning of section 2(6), first sentence, point 17, 4. (repealed) 5. dealing in financial instruments for their own account, 6. advising others on investment in financial instruments, 7. advising undertakings on capital structure, industrial strategy, and related matters, and advising and offering services to undertakings in connection with mergers and acquisitions, or 8. brokering loans between credit institutions (money broking business). The Federal Ministry of Finance may, after hearing the Deutsche Bundesbank, designate by statutory instrument not requiring the consent of the Bundesrat further undertakings as financial enterprises whose principal activity consists in an activity that extends the list in Annex I to Directive 2013/36/EU, as amended on 27 November 2024.
(3a) (repealed)
(3b) (repealed)
(3c) An institution is significant if its balance-sheet total has, on average, exceeded EUR 15 billion as at the relevant reporting dates of the last four completed financial years. The following are always deemed significant institutions: 1. institutions that meet one of the conditions under Article 6(4), second subparagraph, of Council Regulation (EU) No 1024/2013 of 15 October 2013 conferring specific tasks on the European Central Bank concerning policies relating to the prudential supervision of credit institutions (OJ L 287, 29.10.2013, p. 63; L 218, 19.8.2015, p. 82), 2. institutions classified as potentially systemically important within the meaning of section 12, and 3. financial trading institutions under section 25f(1).
(3d) CRR credit institutions within the meaning of this Act are credit institutions within the meaning of Article 4(1), point 1, of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013, as amended on 17 June 2025; an undertaking that is a CRR credit institution is also a credit institution within the meaning of this Act. Securities institutions are undertakings within the meaning of section 2(1) of the Securities Institutions Act. E-money institutions are undertakings within the meaning of section 1(2), first sentence, point 1, of the Payment Services Supervision Act.
(3e) Securities or commodities exchanges within the meaning of this Act are securities or futures markets that are regulated and supervised by the competent state authorities, take place regularly, and are directly or indirectly accessible to the public, including 1. their operators, where their principal activity consists in operating securities or futures markets, and 2. their systems for ensuring the settlement of transactions on those markets (clearing houses), which are regulated and supervised by the competent state authorities.
(4) Home Member State is the state in which the head office of an institution is authorised.
(5) The following are deemed supervisory authorities within the meaning of this Act: 1. the European Central Bank, insofar as it is acting in the exercise of the tasks conferred on it under Article 4(1)(a) to (i) and Article 4(2) of Council Regulation (EU) No 1024/2013 of 15 October 2013 conferring specific tasks on the European Central Bank concerning policies relating to the prudential supervision of credit institutions (OJ L 287, 29.10.2013, p. 63), and those tasks are not performed by the Federal Institute for Financial Services Supervision (Federal Institute) under Article 6(6) of that Regulation, 2. the Federal Institute, insofar as the European Central Bank is not deemed the supervisory authority within the meaning of this Act under point 1.
(5a) The European Economic Area within the meaning of this Act comprises the Member States of the European Union and the other contracting states of the Agreement on the European Economic Area. Third countries within the meaning of this Act are all other states.
(5b) (repealed)
(6) A central securities depository within the meaning of this Act is an undertaking within the meaning of Article 2(1), point 1, of Regulation (EU) No 909/2014.
(7) Sister undertakings are undertakings that have a common parent undertaking.
(7a) (repealed)
(7b) (repealed)
(7c) (repealed)
(7d) (repealed)
(7e) (repealed)
(7f) (repealed)
(8) An EU single institution is an institution that, in the European Union, is not subject to prudential consolidation under Part One, Title II, Chapter 2, of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 and does not have an EU parent undertaking that is subject to such prudential consolidation.
(9) A significant holding within the meaning of this Act is a qualifying holding within the meaning of Article 4(1), point 36, of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013, as amended from time to time. For calculating the proportion of voting rights, section 33(1), in conjunction with a statutory instrument under subsection (5), section 34(1) and (2), section 35(1) to (3), in conjunction with a statutory instrument under subsection (6), and section 36 of the Securities Trading Act apply correspondingly. Voting rights or capital shares that institutions or securities institutions hold in the course of underwriting business under subsection (1), second sentence, point 10, or under section 2(2), point 2, of the Securities Institutions Act are not taken into account, provided that these rights are not exercised or otherwise used to intervene in the management of the issuer, and are disposed of within one year of the date of acquisition.
(9a) A material transfer within the meaning of this Act is a transfer of assets or liabilities by way of disposal or another type of transaction, where it amounts to at least 10 percent of the total assets or liabilities of the undertaking, unless the planned transfer takes place between undertakings of the same group. In that case, the transfer is deemed material for an undertaking where it amounts to at least 15 percent of the total assets or liabilities of the undertaking. The following are not taken into account when calculating the percentages: 1. transfers of non-performing assets, 2. transfers of assets intended for inclusion in a cover pool within the meaning of Article 3, point 3, of Directive (EU) 2019/2162, as amended on 13 December 2023, 3. transfers of assets intended for securitisation, or 4. transfers of assets or liabilities in connection with the application of the resolution tools, powers, and mechanisms provided for in Title IV of Directive 2014/59/EU, as amended on 11 April 2024. For parent financial holding companies and mixed parent financial holding companies, the percentages apply on a consolidated basis.
(9b) A material participation within the meaning of this Act is a participation in another undertaking where it corresponds to 15 percent or more of the participating undertaking's own eligible funds.
(9c) A merger within the meaning of this Act is a transaction in which 1. one or more companies transfer, upon their dissolution without liquidation, all or part of their assets and liabilities to an already existing company, the acquiring company, in exchange for the issue to their own shareholders of shares or other interests in the capital of the acquiring company, and, where applicable, a cash payment not exceeding 10 percent of the nominal value, or, in the absence of a nominal value, the accounting par value, of those shares or other interests, 2. one or more companies transfer, upon their dissolution without liquidation, all or part of their assets and liabilities to an already existing company, the acquiring company, without the acquiring company issuing new shares, provided that one person directly or indirectly holds all the shares or other interests in the merging companies, or the shareholders of the merging companies hold their shares and other interests in the same proportion in all the merging companies, 3. several companies transfer, upon their dissolution without liquidation, all or part of their assets and liabilities to a company that they form, in exchange for the issue to their own shareholders of shares or other interests in the capital of the new company, and, where applicable, a cash payment not exceeding 10 percent of the nominal value, or, in the absence of a nominal value, the accounting par value, of those shares or other interests, or 4. a company transfers, upon its dissolution without liquidation, all or part of its assets and liabilities to the company that holds all the shares or other interests in its capital.
(9d) A division within the meaning of this Act is a transaction in which 1. a company transfers, after dissolution without liquidation, all of its assets and liabilities to several companies, in exchange for the issue to the shareholders of the divided company of shares or other interests of the beneficiary companies, and, where applicable, a cash payment not exceeding 10 percent of the nominal amount, or, in the absence of a nominal amount, the accounting par value, of the shares or other interests granted, 2. a company transfers, after dissolution without liquidation, all of its assets and liabilities to several newly formed companies, in exchange for the issue to the shareholders of the divided company of shares or other interests of the beneficiary companies, and, where applicable, a cash payment not exceeding 10 percent of the nominal amount, or, in the absence of a nominal amount, the accounting par value, of the shares or other interests granted, 3. a combination of the transactions described in points 1 and 2 occurs, 4. a demerging company transfers part of its assets and liabilities to one or more beneficiary companies, in exchange for the issue of shares or other interests of the beneficiary companies, of the demerged company, or of both the beneficiary companies and the demerged company, to the shareholders of the demerging company, and, where applicable, a cash payment not exceeding 10 percent of the nominal amount, or, in the absence of a nominal amount, the accounting par value, of the shares or other interests granted, or 5. a demerging company transfers part of its assets and liabilities to one or more beneficiary companies, in exchange for the issue of shares or other interests of the beneficiary companies to the demerging company.
(10) Outsourcing undertakings are undertakings to which an institution or a superordinate undertaking has outsourced activities and processes for carrying out banking business, financial services, or other services typical for institutions, and their subcontractors in the case of further outsourcing of activities and processes that are material for carrying out banking business, financial services, or other services typical for institutions.
(11) Financial instruments within the meaning of subsections (1) to (3) and (17), and within the meaning of section 2(1) and (6), are 1. shares and other interests in domestic or foreign legal persons, partnerships with legal capacity, and other undertakings, insofar as they are comparable to shares, and depositary receipts representing shares or interests comparable to shares, 2. investment products within the meaning of section 1(2) of the Assets Investment Act, with the exception of interests in a cooperative within the meaning of section 1 of the Cooperatives Act, 3. debt instruments, in particular participation certificates, bearer debt securities, order debt securities, and rights comparable to those debt instruments that are by their nature tradeable on the capital markets, with the exception of payment instruments, and depositary receipts representing those debt instruments, 4. other rights that entitle the holder to acquire or dispose of rights under points 1 and 3, or that result in a cash settlement determined by reference to such rights, currencies, interest rates or other yields, commodities, indices, or measures, 5. units in investment funds within the meaning of section 1(1) of the Capital Investment Code, 6. money-market instruments, 7. foreign currency or units of account, 8. derivatives, 9. allowances under section 3, point 3, of the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Act, emission reduction units under section 2, point 20, of the Project Mechanisms Act, and certified emission reductions under section 2, point 21, of the Project Mechanisms Act, insofar as they may be held in the emissions trading registry in each case (emission allowances), 10. (repealed) 11. instruments admitted for crowdfunding purposes under Article 2(1)(n) of Regulation (EU) 2020/1503 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 October 2020 on European crowdfunding service providers for business, and amending Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 and Directive (EU) 2019/1937 (OJ L 347, 20.10.2020, p. 1), as amended from time to time (crowdfunding instruments). Depositary receipts within the meaning of this Act are securities that are tradeable on the capital market, that evidence ownership of securities of issuers with a registered office abroad, that are admitted to trading on an organised market, and that can be traded independently of the securities of the respective non-resident issuer. Money-market instruments are instruments within the meaning of Article 11 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/565, with the exception of payment instruments. Crypto-assets are those within the meaning of Article 3(1), point 5, of Regulation (EU) 2023/1114. The following are not crypto-assets within the meaning of this Act: those under Article 4(3)(c) of Regulation (EU) 2023/1114. Derivatives are 1. transactions for spot or forward delivery, or option transactions, structured as a purchase, exchange, or otherwise, that are to be performed with a delay and whose value is derived, directly or indirectly, from the price or measure of an underlying (forward transactions) with reference to the following underlyings: a) securities or money-market instruments, b) currencies, insofar as the transaction does not meet the conditions of Article 10 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/565, units of account, or crypto-assets, c) interest rates or other yields, d) indices of the underlyings under (a), (b), (c), or (f), other financial indices or financial measures, e) derivatives, or f) emission allowances; 2. forward transactions with reference to commodities, freight rates, climate or other physical variables, inflation rates or other economic variables, or other assets, indices, or measures as underlyings, provided that they a) are to be settled by cash payment or give one party the right to demand a cash settlement, without that right being triggered by default or another termination event, b) are concluded on an organised market or in a multilateral or organised trading facility, insofar as they are not wholesale energy products traded on an organised trading facility that must be physically settled, or c) have the characteristics of other derivative contracts within the meaning of Article 7 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/565 and serve non-commercial purposes, and provided that they are not spot transactions within the meaning of Article 7 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/565; 3. financial contracts for differences; 4. transactions for spot or forward delivery, or option transactions, structured as a purchase, exchange, or otherwise, that are to be performed with a delay and that serve to transfer credit risk (credit derivatives); 5. forward transactions with reference to the underlyings named in Article 8 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/565, provided that they meet the conditions of point 2.
(12) (repealed)
(13) (repealed)
(14) (repealed)
(15) (repealed)
(16) A system within the meaning of section 24b is a written agreement under Article 2(a) of Directive 98/26/EC, as amended on 13 March 2024, including the agreement between a participant and an indirectly participating credit institution, that has been notified by the Deutsche Bundesbank or the competent authority of another Member State or contracting state of the European Economic Area to the European Securities and Markets Authority. Systems from third countries are treated as equivalent to the systems named in the first sentence, provided that they substantially meet the conditions set out in Article 2(a) of Directive 98/26/EC. A system within the meaning of the first sentence also includes a system whose operator has concluded an agreement with the operator of another system, or the operators of other systems, that has as its object the execution of payment or transfer orders between the systems concerned (interoperable system); the other systems participating in the agreement are also interoperable systems.
(16a) System operator within the meaning of this Act is the entity legally responsible for the operation of the system.
(16b) The business day of a system comprises day and night-time processing and includes all events within the system's usual business cycle.
(16c) Participants of a system within the meaning of this Act are the central counterparties, system operators, clearing members of a central counterparty authorised under Article 17 of Regulation (EU) No 648/2012, and settlement agents, clearing houses, and institutions within the meaning of Article 2(b), (d), or (e) of Directive 98/26/EC, entitled to participate in that system.
(17) Financial collateral within the meaning of this Act is cash balances, sums of money, securities, money-market instruments, and credit claims within the meaning of Article 2(1)(o) of Directive 2002/47/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 June 2002 on financial collateral arrangements (OJ L 168, 27.6.2002, p. 43), as amended by Directive 2009/44/EC (OJ L 146, 10.6.2009, p. 37), and monetary claims arising from an agreement under which an insurance undertaking within the meaning of section 1(1) of the Insurance Supervision Act has granted a loan, in each case including any related rights or claims, that are provided as security in the form of a limited right in rem, or by way of transfer or outright transfer of title on the basis of an agreement between a collateral taker and a collateral provider that belongs to one of the categories listed in Article 1(2)(a) to (e) of Directive 2002/47/EC, as amended by Directive 2009/44/EC; for credit claims granted by insurance undertakings, this applies only where the collateral provider has its registered office in Germany. Where the collateral provider belongs to the persons or companies named in Article 1(2)(e) of Directive 2002/47/EC, financial collateral exists only where the collateral serves to secure liabilities arising from contracts, or from the brokering of contracts, for a) the acquisition and disposal of financial instruments, b) repurchase, lending, or comparable transactions in financial instruments, or c) loans for financing the acquisition of financial instruments. Where the collateral provider belongs to the persons or companies named in Article 1(2)(e) of Directive 2002/47/EC, the collateral provider's own shares, or shares in affiliated undertakings within the meaning of section 290(2) of the Commercial Code, are not financial collateral; the relevant point in time is when the collateral is provided. Collateral providers from third countries are treated as equivalent to the collateral providers named in the first sentence, provided that they substantially correspond to the bodies, financial institutions, and entities listed in Article 1(2)(a) to (e).
(18) Sector rules within the meaning of this Act are the legal provisions of the European Union in the field of financial supervision, in particular Directives 73/239/EEC, 98/78/EC, 2004/39/EC, 2006/48/EC, 2006/49/EC, and 2009/65/EC, and Annex V, Part A, of Directive 2002/83/EC, the domestic statutes based on them, in particular this Act, the Insurance Supervision Act, the Securities Trading Act, the Capital Investment Code, the Pfandbrief Act, the Building Societies Act, the Anti-Money Laundering Act, including the statutory instruments issued thereunder, and the other legal and administrative provisions issued in the field of financial supervision.
(19) Financial sector within the meaning of this Act comprises the following sectors: 1. the banking and securities services sector; this includes credit institutions within the meaning of subsection (1), financial services institutions within the meaning of subsection (1a), securities institutions within the meaning of subsection (3d), second sentence, capital management companies within the meaning of section 17 of the Capital Investment Code, externally managed investment companies within the meaning of section 1(13) of the Capital Investment Code, financial enterprises within the meaning of subsection (3), providers of ancillary services or corresponding undertakings with a registered office abroad, e-money institutions within the meaning of section 1(2), first sentence, point 1, of the Payment Services Supervision Act, and payment institutions within the meaning of section 1(1), first sentence, point 1, of the Payment Services Supervision Act, and institutions within the meaning of section 2(4) of the Crypto-Asset Markets Supervision Act; 2. the insurance sector; this includes direct and reinsurance undertakings within the meaning of section 7, point 33, of the Insurance Supervision Act, insurance holding companies within the meaning of section 7, point 31, of the Insurance Supervision Act, or corresponding undertakings with a registered office abroad; insurance undertakings within the meaning of the first half-sentence do not include death benefit funds or the undertakings and institutions named in section 1(4) and section 3 of the Insurance Supervision Act.
(20) A financial conglomerate is a group or subgroup of undertakings within the meaning of section 1(2) of the Financial Conglomerates Supervision Act.
(21) Risk takers are staff whose professional activities have a material impact on an institution's risk profile. Managers under subsection (2), and members of the administrative or supervisory body within the meaning of section 25d, are also deemed risk takers.
(22) (repealed)
(23) (repealed)
(24) Refinancing undertakings are domestic undertakings that sell, or hold in trust for, the following undertakings, for the purpose of their own refinancing or the refinancing of the party entitled to the transfer, items or claims to the transfer thereof from their business operations: 1. special purpose entities, 2. refinancing intermediaries, 3. credit institutions with a registered office in a state of the European Economic Area, 4. insurance undertakings with a registered office in a state of the European Economic Area, 5. pension funds or pension schemes within the meaning of the Act to Improve Company Pension Schemes (Company Pensions Act), or 6. an entity named in section 2(1), point 1, 2, or 3a. It is immaterial if the refinancing undertakings also pass on economic risks without this being accompanied by a transfer of title.
(25) Refinancing intermediaries are domestic credit institutions that acquire from refinancing undertakings or other refinancing intermediaries items from the business operations of a refinancing undertaking, or claims to the transfer thereof, in order to sell them to special purpose entities or refinancing intermediaries; it is immaterial if they also pass on economic risks without this being accompanied by a transfer of title.
(26) Special purpose entities are undertakings whose material purpose consists in raising funds, or obtaining other assets of value, by issuing financial instruments or in another manner, in order to acquire from refinancing undertakings or refinancing intermediaries items from the business operations of a refinancing undertaking, or claims to the transfer thereof; it is immaterial if they also assume economic risks without this being accompanied by a transfer of title.
(27) Internal approaches within the meaning of this Act are the approaches based on internal assessments under Article 143(1) of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013, the approaches based on internal models under Article 221 of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013, the methods based on internal models under Article 283 of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013, the alternative approaches based on an internal model under Article 325az of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013, and the internal assessment approaches under Article 265(2) of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013.
(28) Common Equity Tier 1 capital within the meaning of this Act is the Common Equity Tier 1 capital under Article 26 of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013, as amended from time to time.
(29) Housing enterprises with a savings facility within the meaning of this Act are undertakings in the legal form of a registered cooperative 1. that are not CRR institutions or financial services institutions and do not hold a participation in an institution or financial enterprise, 2. whose corporate purpose consists predominantly in managing their own housing stock, 3. that, alongside this, conduct as banking business only deposit business within the meaning of subsection (1), second sentence, point 1, but limited to a) accepting savings deposits, b) issuing registered debt securities, and c) establishing bank balances with accumulation of interest for the purposes of section 1(1) of the Retirement Provision Contracts Certification Act of 26 June 2001 (Federal Law Gazette I, pp. 1310, 1322), as amended from time to time, and 4. that do not maintain a trading book, unless a) the trading book's share does not, as a rule, exceed 5 percent of the total sum of on- and off-balance-sheet transactions, b) the total sum of the individual trading book positions does not, as a rule, exceed the equivalent of EUR 15 million, and c) the trading book's share at no time exceeds 6 percent of the total sum of on- and off-balance-sheet transactions, and the total sum of all trading book positions at no time exceeds the equivalent of EUR 20 million. Savings deposits within the meaning of the first sentence, point 3(a), are 1. funds without a fixed term that a) are designated as savings deposits by the issue of a certificate, in particular a savings passbook, b) are not intended for payment transactions, c) are not accepted from stock corporations, cooperatives, business associations, commercial partnerships, or undertakings with a registered office abroad with a comparable legal form, unless those undertakings serve charitable, benevolent, or ecclesiastical purposes, or the funds accepted from those undertakings constitute security under section 551 of the Civil Code, and d) have a period of notice of at least three months; 2. deposits whose savings terms grant the customer the right to dispose of their deposits, subject to three months' notice, up to a specific amount, which must not exceed EUR 2,000 per savings account per calendar month, without notice; 3. amounts paid on the basis of capital formation statutes.
(30) (repealed)
(31) A central counterparty is an undertaking within the meaning of Article 2, point 1, of Regulation (EU) No 648/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 July 2012 on OTC derivatives, central counterparties, and trade repositories (OJ L 201, 27.7.2012, p. 1), as amended from time to time.
(32) Financing of terrorism within the meaning of this Act is financing of terrorism under section 1(2) of the Anti-Money Laundering Act.
(33) Systemic risk is the risk of a disruption in the financial system that may have serious negative consequences for the financial system and the real economy.
(34) Model risk is the potential loss that an institution may incur as a consequence of decisions based principally on the results of internal models that are flawed in their development, implementation, or application.
(35) In other respects, for the purposes of this Act, the definitions in Article 4(1), first subparagraph, points 5, 6, 8, 13 to 18, 20 to 22, 26, 29 to 33, 35, 37, 38, 43, 44, 48, 49, 51, 52d to 52i, 54, 57, 61 to 63, 66, 67, 73, 74, 82, 86, 94, 146, and 147, of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 apply.
(36) For the purposes of this Act, an institution is deemed subject to the output floor own funds minimum where the total risk exposure amount of the institution, calculated under Article 92(3)(a) of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013, exceeds its total risk exposure amount without the output floor own funds minimum, calculated under Article 92(4) of that Regulation.