Newsletter September 09: New German financial regs law comes into force

BERLIN – A controversial new financial law giving additional powers to the German regulator and increasing its ability to intervene in the running of financial firms during times of crisis, came into effect at the beginning of August. This new law (the Strengthening of the Financial Markets and Insurance Supervision Act), which introduces amendments to existing banking and insurance supervision legislation, also imposes further reporting requirements on both types of financial institution and widens the information available to the regulator to provide early warning of potential future risks.