Regulation & Compliance.

Many regulations, one objective.

Digital assets are now comprehensively regulated for financial institutions: MiCAR, the DLT Pilot Regime, eWpG, eWpRV, KryptoFAV, the German Banking Act (KWG), MaRisk, ZAG — and new requirements keep arriving. What provides certainty through clear frameworks on one hand also means this for institutions: every new use case has to be classified in regulatory terms, integrated into existing governance structures and documented. After the initial implementation in particular, what matters is ongoing compliance with those requirements.

We are experienced in implementing the requirements of the relevant laws and regulations and can reconcile them with new processes and technologies. We support clients through licensing procedures under the KWG, ZAG and MiCAR, in reviewing and optimising existing governance, and in developing compliance documentation for specific products and processes. The aim is the appropriate degree of effort for each requirement and pragmatic implementation advice, so that regulatory certainty and operational efficiency stay in balance.

What we do (selection)

• Gap and impact analysis of regulatory requirements for existing business models and new digital asset use cases
• Leading or supporting licensing procedures under the KWG, ZAG or MiCAR — from the licence application through to ongoing compliance with the applicable requirements
• Drafting and reviewing regulatory documentation and concepts (product processes, internal rulebooks and similar)
• Review and optimisation of DORA governance and of day-to-day practice, including review of policies and procedures and gap analyses
• Support in selecting and evaluating service providers used within regulatory processes
• Subject-matter support during internal and external audits

Selected engagements (anonymised)

• Led and supported several KWG licensing procedures and MiCAR notifications for financial institutions through to authorisation
• Advised a private bank on reviewing and optimising its DORA governance
• Built the compliance function of a financial institution in the digital asset space
• Supported a bank through a “digital assets” focus area within its annual audit