History
BaFin was formed on 1 May 2002 with the passing of the Financial Services and integration Act (German: Gesetz über die integrierte Finanzaufsicht (FinDAG)) on 22 April 2002. The aim of this legislation was to create one integrated financial regulator that covered all financial markets. BaFin was created by the merger of the three supervisory agencies, the Federal Banking Supervisory Office (German: Bundesaufsichtsamt für das Kreditwesen (BAKred)), the Federal Supervisory Office for the Securities Trading (German: Bundesaufsichtsamt für den Wertpapierhandel (BAWe)), and the Federal Insurance Supervisory Office (German: Bundesaufsichtsamt für das Versicherungswesen (BAV))
This meant there was uniform national supervision of banks, credit institutions, insurance companies, financial service companies, brokers and stock exchanges. This model was designed to provide transparency and manageability and to make sure all financial activity was regulated.
In 2003 changes to the Banking Act (KWG) gave BaFin further responsibility to monitor the credit worthiness of financial institutions and to collect detailed information from those institutions. The aim was to increase customer protection and the reputation of the financial system. It shares responsibility here with the Bundesbank
Read more about this topic: Federal Financial Supervisory Authority
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