On 28 October 2026, the German Federal Ministry of Finance (“BMF”) published the ministerial Draft Act Implementing the Sixth EU Anti-Money Laundering Directive and Strengthening Money Laundering Prevention (“Draft Bill”). Although the Draft Bill has been characterised by the BMF as a 1:1 implementation, a more detailed review is warranted.

  1. Background and objective

The Draft Bill is intended to implement the European Union’s Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) legislative package (“EU AML/CFT Legislative Package”) and to make the necessary corresponding amendments to national law. The EU AML/CFT Legislative Package was formally adopted in April 2024, published in the Official Journal on 19 June 2024, and entered into force on 9 July 2024. The EU AML/CFT Legislative Package comprises two directives and two regulations:

For the most part, the deadline for transposing the two directives into the national laws of the EU Member States and to comply with the two regulations is 10 July 2027. The AMLR applies directly in each Member State from 10 July 2027, while the AMLA Regulation has applied since 1 July 2025. Directive (EU) 2024/1654 must be transposed partly by 10 July 2027 and partly by 10 July 2029.

The BMF pursues a 1:1 transposition while the explanatory memorandum to the Draft Bill explains that opening clauses are used on a risk-oriented basis and proven national instruments, for example, the prohibition on cash payments in real estate transactions and the prohibition on notarisation where there is no transparency about the beneficial owners of real estate acquirers, are retained.

  1. Legislative approach

The German Money Laundering Act (Geldwäschegesetz – GwG) will be repealed with effect from 10 July 2027 and replaced by a new principal act, the Anti Money Laundering Act (Geldwäschebekämpfungsgesetz – GwBG).

The draft GwBG governs, inter alia, the Transparency Register, supervision including the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), competent authorities’ structures and coordination and sanctions. The scope of obliged entities, the scope of internal policies, procedures and controls, customer due diligence measures, in particular identification and verification of the identity of customers and beneficial owners, as well as simplified or enhanced due diligence measures and reporting obligations will, among other provisions, in future primarily derive directly from the AMLR.

Consequential amendments include the Fiscal Code (Abgabenordnung – AO), the Banking Act (Kreditwesengesetz – KWG), the Payment Services Supervision Act (Zahlungsdiensteaufsichtsgesetz – ZAG), the Crypto Markets Supervision Act (Kryptomärkteaufsichtsgesetz – KMAG), the Investment Firms Act (Wertpapierinstitutsgesetz – WpIG) and many more.

  1. Scope of obliged entities

From 10 July 2027 the scope of obliged entities will primarily follow Article 3 AMLR. New obliged entities under the AMLR include, in particular, crowdfunding service providers and intermediaries, non-financial mixed holding companies, mortgage and consumer credit intermediaries, undertakings whose only financial service is currency exchange (e.g. hotels and travel agencies) and, from 10 July 2029, professional football clubs and football agents in relation to certain transactions and activities. Conversely, traders in goods will only remain obliged entities if they trade in high-value goods, precious stones, precious metals or cultural goods (Article 3(3)(e), (f), (i) and (j) AMLR). Germany will not extend obligations to other traders in goods given the EU-wide cash limit (Article 80(1) AMLR). In addition, professional football clubs below the top league (which will become obliged entities from 10 July 2029) may be exempted from the scope of obliged entities by ordinance at a later stage. An exemption is not available for top-league clubs, as the EUR 5 million turnover threshold under Article 5(1) AMLR applies to them.

According to Article 3(7) AMLD6, Member States may continue to apply all or part of the AMLR to entities that qualified as obliged entities under national law prior to 9 July 2024.

Section 3 of the draft GwBG makes use of this option and adds three groups of obliged entities to the entities that are listed in Article 3 AMLR: (i) institutions that exclusively engage in deposit-taking business without being a credit institution within the meaning of Regulation (EU) 575/2013 (CRR), (ii) institutions offering underwriting exclusively in relation to financial instruments that are not financial instruments under MiFID II, and (iii) institutions that provide qualified crypto custody or crypto securities registry services.

Section 4 of the draft GwBG makes use of the option under Article 6(1) AMLR to exempt certain entities. These exemptions are to be reviewed as part of the national risk assessment and monitored by the supervisory authorities (Section 4(4) of the draft GwBG).       

  1. Money Laundering Reporting Officer 

Under Section 7(5) GwG, the money laundering reporting officer (MLRO), or the deputy MLRO when acting in the capacity of the MLRO, is currently required to perform the function in Germany. Neither the AMLR nor the draft GwBG retains this requirement. In addition, according to the explanatory memorandum, the appointment of a deputy MLRO is not provided for under the AMLR and, accordingly, will no longer be mandatory. Nevertheless, where a deputy MLRO has been voluntarily appointed, Section 6(3) of the draft GwBG continues to empower the competent supervisory authority to require an obliged entity to dismiss them. Furthermore, Section 6(3) retains the obligation to notify the competent supervisory authority in advance of the appointment of an MLRO.

     5.   Real estate

The cash payment ban will be retained and expanded in Section 9 of the draft GwBG. Compensation for the purchase or exchange of German real estate and of shares in property-holding companies may not be paid in cash, crypto-assets, gold, platinum or precious stones. Proof must be provided to the notary, who may file for registration in the land register only after conducting a plausibility check. The proof and verification requirements do not apply to payments of up to EUR 10,000 or to payments via the notary’s escrow account. A central access point for information relating to real estate and its owners will be established by 10 July 2029 (Sections 37 to 44 of the draft GwBG). The information accessible through the central access point will include, inter alia, information on the history of ownership of the property, the purchase price and related encumbrances dating back to 8 July 2019.

     6.    Bank account retrieval systems

Under the completely revised Section 24c of the KWG, the automated account retrieval system will also cover crypto-asset accounts and virtual IBANs. All supervisory authorities in the financial and non-financial sectors as well as the Authority for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (“AMLA”) will be entitled to retrieve data. In addition, national account registers will be interconnected via the EU bank account registers interconnection system (BARIS) under a new Section 24d of the KWG, giving in particular EU FIUs, AMLA and the Federal Criminal Police Office access to a limited data set. Under a new Section 24e of the KWG, credit and financial institutions, including crypto-asset service providers, will have to provide financial transaction records to investigating authorities in harmonised formats.

      7.  Supervision: a new Central Anti-Money Laundering Supervisory Coordination Unit

Implementing the coordination mechanism required by Article 37(4) AMLD6, Section 81 of the draft GwBG provides for the establishment of a “Central Anti-Money Laundering Supervisory Coordination Unit” (Zentrale Koordinierungsstelle Geldwäscheaufsicht – ZKGw) within the German competent authority (Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht – BaFin). While BaFin centrally supervises approx. 5,000 obliged entities in the financial sector, the approx. 200,000 obliged entities in the non-financial sector are supervised by around 250 regional authorities and professional chambers. The ZKGw shall coordinate supervision across and within sectors.

      8.   FIU

Detailed provisions regarding the FIU are laid down in Sections 45 to 76 of the draft GwBG. The FIU may suspend or withhold consent to transactions for up to ten working days (Section 51(1) of the draft GwBG). The FIU may also order the suspension of the use of bank accounts, payment accounts or crypto-asset accounts for up to five working days (Section 51(2) of the draft GwBG). A further new measure is the monitoring order, under which obliged entities must, at the FIU’s instruction, monitor transactions or business activities of high-risk persons for a specified period and report on them (Section 52 of the draft GwBG). At the same time, an Internal Fundamental Rights Officer, independent of instructions, will monitor compliance with fundamental rights in the FIU’s activities.

      9.   Transparency Register

Detailed provisions regarding the Transparency Register including accessible beneficial ownership data and disclosure of real estate held by entities registered in the land register are laid down in Sections 12 to 36 of the draft GwBG. Previous provisions have been completely revised to grant greater transparency about beneficial owners and reflect the new EU legislative framework. The authority responsible for maintaining the Transparency Register will be granted enhanced verification powers (see Sections 21 to 23 of the draft GwBG).

     10. New sanctions framework

Section 119 of the draft GwBG provides for administrative fines of up to EUR 200,000 for breaches of the AMLR. In cases of serious, repeated or systematic infringements, fines may reach EUR 1 million for natural persons. For credit institutions and financial institutions, the maximum fine is increased to EUR 10 million or 10% of total annual turnover (where annual turnover exceeds EUR 100 million). Periodic penalty payments are newly introduced under Section 104 of the draft GwBG: up to 2% of daily net turnover for natural persons and up to 3% of average daily net turnover for legal persons, payable for a maximum of six months (extendable by a further six months). In addition, fines, administrative measures and periodic penalty payments must, in general, be published, (Section 121 of the draft GwBG).

      11.  Next steps

The Draft Bill is currently undergoing consultation until 19 November 2026. The Federal Government is scheduled to adopt the Draft Bill before the end of this year. The Draft Bill is intended to enter into force on 10 July 2027, aligning with the application date of the AMLR. Obliged entities should align their compliance frameworks early with the AMLR (applicable from 10 July 2027) and the supplementary national requirements of the draft GwBG.