Appoint a (group) money laundering officer or (group) money laundering officer

If you are obliged to appoint a (group) money laundering officer, you must notify the supervisory authority in advance.

If you fall under the following groups of obliged entities under the Money Laundering Act, you must appoint a (group) money laundering officer at management level and a deputy. The appointment of the (group) anti-money laundering officer and his/her deputy must be notified to the supervisory authority in advance.

Notification is possible for the following obliged entity groups here:

• Financial companies with activities pursuant to Section 1 (24) GwG
• Insurance intermediaries
• Non-chambered legal advisors and registered persons pursuant to Section 10 of the Legal Services Act
• Service providers for companies and trust assets or trustees
• Real estate agents
• Organizers and brokers of games of chance (bookmakers, organizers and brokers of sports betting, casinos, horse betting on the Internet, lotteries on the Internet)
• Goods dealers, art brokers and art stockists

In some cases, the obligations under the AMLA only apply if certain activities are carried out or threshold values are reached - you can find more detailed information on this under further information.

• (Group) money laundering officers are responsible for compliance with money laundering regulations. They are directly subordinate to the management.
• The responsibility of the management level continues to exist.
• The most important tasks of the money laundering officers include the following
  • they are the point of contact for the law enforcement authorities, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and for the supervisory authority, which check compliance with due diligence obligations.
  • They are responsible for carrying out and updating the risk analysis, designing internal measures and monitoring compliance with due diligence obligations within the company.
  • they submit suspicious activity reports to the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) or respond to requests for information from these bodies.
• The parent company must appoint a Group Money Laundering Officer and, if necessary, a deputy, who are responsible for drawing up a uniform Group-wide strategy for the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing and for coordinating and monitoring its implementation.
• They fulfill the following tasks:
  • Group Money Laundering Officers must create binding cross-company procedures for implementing the obligations under money laundering law in the branches, subsidiaries and group-affiliated companies in Germany and abroad that are subject to the group and ensure that these are observed. They have the authority to do this by inspecting audit reports or conducting their own spot checks. The designated member of the parent company's management must be informed of the results regularly and if necessary.
  • If necessary, they must also take cross-company (control) measures.
  • Group Money Laundering Officers do not replace the Money Laundering Officers that may be required at the group companies.

For gambling, RP Darmstadt, gambling supervision, Hesse-wide; for the non-financial sector, regionally responsible regional council (RP Gießen, RP Kassel, RP Darmstadt), money laundering prevention team; separate regulations for other companies and professional groups such as tax consultants, notaries, banks, etc.; please contact the respective supervisory authority individually.

• Completed form for the notification of the appointment of a (group) money laundering officer and a deputy (not applicable for online form)
• If you are notifying a group money laundering officer, please attach a complete list of the companies in your group for which the group money laundering officer is responsible (please include the name and registered office of each company) as well as an overview of the group structure.
• For the gambling sector:
  • Current curriculum vitae of the money laundering officer and deputy
  • Proof of expertise (e.g. training certificates) of the money laundering officer and the deputy
• The supervisory authority reserves the right to request additional information on the qualifications of the relevant employee (e.g. overview of professional career, proof of participation in money laundering training courses, etc.) and their reliability (e.g. in the form of information from the Federal Central Register or, if applicable, from the Central Trade Register)

Forms/online services available: Yes

Written form required: No

Informal application possible: No

Personal appearance necessary: No

1. requirements for the obligated party/company

The head office of your company is in Hesse and you belong to one of the above-mentioned groups of companies. For companies operating in the gambling sector, a registered office outside Hesse is also possible.

You wish to report the (new) appointment of (group) money laundering officers or their deputies. (Please notify us of simple changes, for example to telephone numbers, by post, fax or e-mail).

a.) Legal basis

The Money Laundering Act stipulates that a money laundering officer must be appointed and notified in the following cases:

- The appointment of the function is prescribed by law (Section 7 (1) GwG: For financial companies and organizers and intermediaries of games of chance) or

- the supervisory authority has issued an individual order stipulating that you must appoint an anti-money laundering officer (Section 7 (3) sentence 1 GwG), or

- You trade in high-value goods, are an art broker or art storage company and fulfill the other requirements of the

General ruling issued by the Hessian regional councils for these obligated parties in accordance with Section 7 (3) sentence 2 GwG, for example number of employees (see further information), or

- As the parent company of a group, you are obliged to appoint a group money laundering officer in accordance with Section 9 (1) no. 2 GwG or instead of the parent company in accordance with Section 9 (4) GwG.

In all these cases, the deputy must always be appointed and notified to the supervisory authority.

b) Voluntary appointment

If you appoint an anti-money laundering officer as an "additional" internal security measure without being obliged to do so by the AMLA or a provision of the supervisory authority.

2. requirements for the person of the money laundering officer

Money laundering officers take on a central, responsible task in the prevention of money laundering for your company or business. In addition to sufficient knowledge, they must also have the necessary assertiveness and authority. They must therefore be at management level and are directly subordinate to the management. You must provide the appointed person with the necessary resources for the proper performance of their duties, for example the necessary working hours. Discrimination prohibitions and special protection against dismissal apply. For more details, see Section 7 (5) to (7) GwG and the notes on interpretation and application (see further information).

General rulings pursuant to Section 7 (3) sentence 2 of the German Money Laundering Act (GwG)

• As an obliged entity, you must notify the supervisory authority in advance of the appointment of a (group) money laundering officer and deputy for your company.
• Your notification will be reviewed by the competent authority.
• If the person does not have the required qualifications or reliability, the appointment as money laundering officer or deputy must be revoked at the request of the supervisory authority and a new person must be appointed.

The notification of (group) money laundering officers and/or deputies must be made before the appointment. There is no deadline, i.e. the notification can also be made at very short notice. The notification is intended to give the authority the opportunity to check the qualifications and reliability of the newly appointed (group) anti-money laundering officer and/or deputy and, if necessary, to object to the appointment in a timely manner.

There are no fees.

• In addition to the groups of obligated parties mentioned above, the obligations under the Money Laundering Act also apply to other companies and professional groups, such as tax consultants, notaries or credit institutions. Unfortunately, we cannot provide any further information or (online) forms for these cases here. Please contact your competent supervisory authority.
• The following exception applies to financial companies: For financial holding companies, the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) is the competent supervisory authority in accordance with Section 25l of the German Banking Act (KWG).