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Money laundering; appointment of a money laundering officer and a representative
The obligation to appoint an anti-money laundering officer depends on risk factors such as the area of activity or structure of the company, which could facilitate possible misuse for money laundering by third parties.
Forms
Forms
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Anzeige/Änderung der Bestellung einer/eines Geldwäschebeauftragten/stellvertretenden Geldwäschebeauftragten
This form can be submitted electronically (e.g. via a secure contact form using your user account with login via the electronic ID function or the ELSTER certificate) or handwritten and signed in paper form to the responsible authority.
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Anzeige/Änderung der Bestellung einer/eines gruppenweiten Geldwäschebeauftragten/stellvertretenden gruppenweiten Geldwäschebeauftragten
This form can be submitted electronically (e.g. via a secure contact form using your user account with login via the electronic ID function or the ELSTER certificate) or handwritten and signed in paper form to the responsible authority.
Responsible for you
For contact details of the responsible authoritiy and local valid information select under "Select location" a location.
Procedure details
Description
The German Money Laundering Act (Geldwäschegesetz - GwG) stipulates that obliged entities must take appropriate business and customer-related internal security measures to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing. These internal security measures include, in particular, the appointment of an anti-money laundering officer and their representative. The obligation to appoint an anti-money laundering officer or a representative exists either directly by law (Section 7 (1) sentence 1 GwG) or by order of the competent authority (Section 7 (3) GwG).
This order was issued in mid-August 2021 for all Bavarian administrative districts for commercial goods traders whose main activity (more than 50% of total turnover in the previous financial year) is trading in precious metals such as gold, silver and platinum, precious stones, jewelry, watches, works of art, antiques, motor vehicles, ships, motorboats or aircraft, who employed a total of at least 15 employees in the areas of acquisition, cash register, customer accounting, sales and distribution including management personnel (in particular management) on the last day of the previous financial year and who were obliged under Section 4 para. 5 No. 1 GwG are obliged to have an effective risk management system in place.
The appointment of an anti-money laundering officer and a deputy or their dismissal must be reported to the competent authority in advance (Section 7 (4) sentence 1 GwG). We recommend using the forms that can be downloaded under "Forms" for the notification (notification of change/representation/release).
According to Section 7 (2) GwG, an exemption from the obligation to appoint an anti-money laundering officer can be applied for from the locally competent supervisory authority.
According to Section 6 (7) sentence 1 GwG, the obligated party may conclude a contractual agreement to transfer the duties of the anti-money laundering officer to a third party. The approval of the supervisory authority is not required for this. Rather, prior notification of the transfer is sufficient.
Information on the contractual requirements can be found under "Further links".
Requirements
The obligation to appoint an anti-money laundering officer exists for
- obliged entities pursuant to section 2 (1) nos. 1 to 3, 6, 7, 9 and 15 GwG in principle (section 7 (1) sentence 1 GwG);
- obliged entities pursuant to section 2 (1) nos. 4, 5, 8, 10 to 14 and 16 AMLA only by order of the supervisory authorities (section 7 (3) sentence 1 AMLA);
- for obliged entities pursuant to Section 2 para. 1 no. 16 GwG, this order is to be issued in mid-August 2021 for all Bavarian administrative districts for commercial goods traders whose main activity (over 50% of total turnover in the previous financial year) is trading in precious metals such as gold, silver and platinum, precious stones, jewelry, watches, works of art, antiques, motor vehicles, ships, motorboats or aircraft, ships, motorboats or aircraft, where on the last day of the previous financial year a total of at least 15 employees were employed in the areas of acquisition, cash, customer accounting, sales and distribution, including management personnel (in particular management) and which are obliged under Section 4 para. 5 No. 1 GwG are obliged to have an effective risk management system (§ 7 para. 3 sentence 2 GwG);
- as the parent company of a group pursuant to Section 9 para. 1 sentence 2 no. 2 GwG or
- for group-affiliated obliged entities that have to implement group-wide obligations (Section 9 para. 4 GwG);
In all these cases, both the appointment and the dismissal of the anti-money laundering officer and his/her deputy must be notified in advance (Section 7 para. 4 GwG and Section 9 para. 1 sentence 4 and para. 4 GwG).
Competent supervisory authority for
- Financial companies (Section 2 para. 1 no. 6 GwG in conjunction with Section 1 para. 24 sentence 1 GwG)
- Insurance intermediaries (Section 2 (1) No. 8 GwG)
- Service providers for companies and trust assets or trustees (Section 2 (1) No. 13 GwG)
- Real estate agents (Section 2 (1) No. 14 GwG)
- Goods dealers and art brokers (Section 2 (1) No. 16 GwG)
is the Government of Middle Franconia for the administrative districts of Upper, Lower and Middle Franconia, Swabia and Upper Palatinate and the Government of Lower Bavaria for the administrative districts of Upper and Lower Bavaria (Section 50 No. 9 GwG in conjunction with Section 8a of the Competence Ordinance - Zuständigkeitsverordnung - ZustV).
Proceedings
Please use the forms listed below to (re)appoint or dismiss (group) anti-money laundering officers or their deputies for your company headquartered in Bavaria and belonging to one of the above-mentioned groups of companies. Please notify the competent supervisory authority of simple changes, e.g. of telephone numbers, by post, fax or e-mail.
Deadlines
None
Special notes
The voluntary appointment of a money laundering officer as an "additional" internal security measure is possible without you being obliged to do so by the AMLA or a provision of the supervisory authority.
Legal bases
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§ 6 Gesetz über das Aufspüren von Gewinnen aus schweren Straftaten (Geldwäschegesetz - GwG)Interne Sicherungsmaßnahmen
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§ 7 Gesetz über das Aufspüren von Gewinnen aus schweren Straftaten (Geldwäschegesetz - GwG)Geldwäschebeauftragter
Related issues
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Money laundering; implementation of supervision
The German Money Laundering Act (Geldwäschegesetz - GwG) stipulates that security measures and due diligence obligations must be observed when carrying out particularly high-risk trades and professional activities. This is intended to prevent abuse for the purpose of money laundering.
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Money laundering; filing a suspicious activity report
As an obliged entity under the Money Laundering Act (GwG), you must report cases that indicate money laundering or terrorist financing.
Status: 12.03.2025
Editorial responsibility Bayerisches Staatsministerium des Innern, für Sport und Integration
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