BaFin (Federal Financial Supervisory Authority)
Germany's integrated financial regulatory authority responsible for supervising banks, insurance companies, and securities trading. BaFin is the primary competent authority for DORA compliance in Germany, receiving incident reports and conducting supervisory reviews.
The Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht (BaFin) is Germany's federal financial supervisory authority, established in 2002 through the merger of three predecessor agencies. It supervises approximately 2,700 banks, 800 financial services institutions, 700 insurance companies, and over 30 pension funds, making it one of Europe's most important financial regulators.
In the context of DORA, BaFin serves as the competent authority for German financial entities. This means DORA incident reports must be submitted to BaFin, BaFin can conduct DORA-specific supervisory reviews, and BaFin can impose administrative penalties for non-compliance. BaFin has published guidance documents and expectations regarding DORA implementation for German financial institutions.
BaFin also issues its own regulatory requirements through circulars (Rundschreiben), particularly BAIT (Bankaufsichtliche Anforderungen an die IT), VAIT (Versicherungsaufsichtliche Anforderungen an die IT), and KAIT (Kapitalverwaltungsaufsichtliche Anforderungen an die IT). These national requirements complement DORA and should be considered alongside EU-level requirements.
Related Terms
DORA (Digital Operational Resilience Act)
An EU regulation that establishes uniform requirements for the security of network and information systems in the financial sector. DORA became mandatory on January 17, 2025, and applies to banks, insurance companies, investment firms, and their critical ICT service providers.
Incident Reporting
The formal process of detecting, classifying, and reporting ICT-related incidents to competent authorities. DORA Articles 17-23 establish specific requirements for incident classification, initial notification, intermediate reports, and final reports to supervisory authorities.
ICT Risk Management
The process of identifying, assessing, and mitigating risks associated with information and communication technology systems. Under DORA, financial entities must maintain a comprehensive ICT risk management framework covering identification, protection, detection, response, and recovery.
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