Integrated Financial Supervision in Germany

With the establishment of the Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht(BaFin) in May 2002 Germany followed the trend towards integrated financial supervision. The main reason for unification of supervision is the growing integration of financial sectors leading to the blurring of boundaries between banking, insurance and securities activities. The aim of this paper is to analyse the development of Allfinanz, and hence the driving forces for the creation of the single supervisory authority in Germany. Moreover, BaFin’s tasks and structure are discussed.

Schüler, Martin (2004), Integrated Financial Supervision in Germany, ZEW Discussion Paper Nr. 04-35, Mannheim.