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Germany · EU member

Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht

BaFin · Financial supervisory authorityProlific

Bonn / Frankfurtwww.bafin.de
88Activity Indexmethodology →
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Employees

3,084

FY2025

Annual budget

€514.7M

· actual expenditure

FY2025

Supervised entities

2,415

· institutions

FY2025

Overview

BaFin is the EU's largest national financial supervisor — 3,084 staff, fully levy-funded and independent of the federal budget, overseeing Europe's biggest financial market and, under MiCAR, more crypto-asset service providers than any other EU authority. In 2025 it fielded 951 licence enquiries, imposed roughly €81 million in fines, and dismantled more than 1,400 fraudulent domains in a single joint cybercrime operation. Everything below is BaFin's own data, from its Jahresbericht 2025.

Regulated sectors

BanksPayment institutionsE-money institutionsCrypto-asset service providersInvestment firmsAsset managersInsurance companiesSecurities markets

Leadership

  • Mark BransonPresident · since 2021
  • Nikolas SpeerExecutive Director, Banking Supervision · since 2025

Full board →

Figures as published by Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht for FY2025. Source: BaFin Jahresbericht 2025 (German). Data as of 31 December 2025.

Organisation (FY2025)

ItemValue
Employees
3,084
As at 31 Dec 2025; 192 hired during the year, 36 seconded to international institutions
Actual expenditure
€514.7m
2024: €514.1m; fully levy-funded — planned income €520.5m from supervised firms plus €20.7m in fees
Levy split
Banks & financial services 47.7% · insurance 24.8% · securities 19.5%
Resolution 5.2%, financial reporting control 2.8% (2024 levy base)

Activity 2025

ItemValue
Supervised institutions
2,415
Licence enquiries received
951
2024: 833
Published measures
151
Fines imposed
~€81m
New unauthorised-business cases
1,645
2024: 1,325; 13 premises searched with police support
Licensed asset managers (KVGen)
145
All audited; 16 special audits ordered
Financial reporting control
50 procedures closed
429 companies in scope; errors found and published in 14 cases

Notable 2025

ItemValue
Operation Herakles
With the Karlsruhe cybercrime centre and state criminal police: over 1,400 fraudulent domains taken down in October, over 3,500 phone numbers disconnected in December
Strategic goals 2026–2029 (June 2025)
Complexity reduction, proportionality, stronger risk orientation
DORA applicable from 17 January 2025
BaFin retired its own IT circulars to avoid double regulation
Insurer licence revoked
March, following insolvency; a new-business ban had been imposed immediately upon notification
"Pop-up Embassy" walk-in format for fintech founders
Continued

Key legislation

  • KWG (Kreditwesengesetz)

    Banking Act — the German transposition of CRD/CRR

  • ZAG (Zahlungsdiensteaufsichtsgesetz)

    Payment Services Supervision Act (PSD2)

  • KMAG (Kryptomärkteaufsichtsgesetz)

    MiCA implementation

  • WpHG

    Securities Trading Act (MiFID II)

Public registers

Application portals

Recent publications

Data as of 31 December 2025 · Source: www.bafin.de (authority website) + ComplyBridge researchActivity Index methodology →

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