Prevention of money laundering

Anti-money laundering

Many people are familiar with the anti-money laundering obligations that apply to banks. You have to provide proof of identity before you can open an account there.

What is less well known is that there are also anti-money laundering obligations in the so-called ‘non-financial sector’. We are a designated entity under the Money Laundering Act.

The Senate Department responsible for the economy in Berlin is the competent supervisory authority under the Money Laundering Act (GwG) for obliged entities in the non-financial sector in the State of Berlin and is therefore our supervisory authority.

You can find further information on this at the following links

• Information from the Senate:
  Here you will find under “Service providers for companies pursuant to Section 2(1)(13) of the GwG”:
  “Service providers for companies and for trust assets, or trustees, are obliged entities under the Money Laundering Act (GwG) if they provide certain services for third parties (e.g. setting up shelf companies or offering virtual offices, business or administrative headquarters, etc.).”
• Guidance on the interpretation and application of the Money Laundering Act (GwG):
  Available here, these guidelines state that service providers for shelf companies are also included in anti-money laundering measures.

We are therefore obliged, when assisting with the incorporation of a company and the sale of a shelf company, to identify our contractual partners, any persons acting on their behalf (e.g. managing directors) and beneficial owners in accordance with Section 11(1) of the GwG. The data must be collected in accordance with Section 11(4) and Section 11(5) of the Money Laundering Act (GwG) and retained in accordance with Section 8 of the GwG.

Information from the Senate for customers

To inform clients, the Berlin Senate has published this brochure, from which we summarise the following excerpts:

Doesn’t all this contravene data protection regulations?
No, as the Money Laundering Act expressly requires the collection, verification and documentation of data, including copies of documents, the processing is lawful for the purpose of complying with a legal obligation (Article 6(1)(c) of the GDPR).

And what if I don’t want to do any of this?
If you refuse to cooperate, the service provider is not permitted to carry out the intended transaction with you.

Paying with cash

Question: Can I pay with cash?
In short: No. Why:
1. In the case of a cash payment, we are required to carry out enhanced due diligence checks for money laundering. You would have to prove the source of the money.
2. Nor can we simply deposit the cash into our bank account without risking a suspicious activity report from the bank and the closure of our account.
3. The best option is for you to deposit the cash – hopefully not undeclared income – into your bank account and then transfer the amount to us.

Furthermore, from 1 January 2027, there will be a cash limit of €10,000 for business transactions.