When is the BaFin arbitration board responsible for me?

For disputes in connection with financial services, there are various dispute resolution entities. You can find information on the recognised entities and their areas of responsibility in the section Resolving disputes out of court using the financial ombudsman services.

The requirements placed on dispute resolution entities are governed in particular by the German Act on Alternative Dispute Resolution for Consumer Disputes (Verbraucherstreitbeilegungsgesetz – VSBG) and the German Regulation on Financial Dispute Resolution Entities (Finanzschlichtungsstellenverordnung – FinSV) (only available in German). The legal responsibilities of the consumer dispute resolution entities are set out in the German Injunctions Act (Unterlassungsklagengesetz – UKlaG) and the German Insurance Contract Act (Versicherungsvertragsgesetz – VVG).

The BaFin arbitration board is responsible for disputes in connection with the regulations of the German Investment Code (Kapitalanlagegesetzbuch – KAGB) and with banking business and financial services within the meaning of section 1 (1) sentence 2 of the German Banking Act (Kreditwesengesetz – KWG) and section 1 (1a) sentence 2 of the KWG, provided that no private, recognised dispute resolution entity is responsible. The BaFin arbitration board is therefore designed as a substitute dispute resolution entity for the aforementioned financial services.

How do I file an application for arbitration with BaFin?

Many disagreements can already be resolved by contacting the company directly. We therefore recommend that you first try to settle the issue with the company in question.

In the case of dispute, you can apply to have the dispute resolved by a consumer dispute resolution entity. Whether you address your complaint to BaFin or to another dispute resolution entity, your application for arbitration must be filed in writing. It must include a brief description of the case and the documents necessary to understand the matter (e.g. correspondence, contractual terms and conditions, cost calculations). You can also submit your application by e-mail.

As the party filing the application, you must confirm that

• no proceedings have been conducted or are pending at a consumer dispute resolution entity regarding the same dispute;
• administrative proceedings under sections 48 to 50 of the German Payment Accounts Act (Zahlungskontengesetz – ZKG) are pending and no decision against which there is no appeal has been made in such proceeding;
• no judgement on the merits of the case has been issued by a court, or
• the dispute is not pending before a court;
• no settlement has been reached in the dispute and it has not been otherwise resolved;
• no application for legal aid relating to the dispute has been rejected because the intended assertion of legal rights had no reasonable prospect of success or appeared to be malicious.

No arbitration proceedings can be conducted if these confirmations, which are required under the FinSV, are not given.

To request BaFin’s assistance, please use our arbitration form. Complete the form as fully as possible. You can do this on your computer and then save the completed form so that you can send it by e-mail, for example. If you want to send it by post, please print out the completed form and sign it. You can then send your application and the required documentation by post or as a fax, or in an e-mail attachment, to

Schlichtungsstelle bei der
Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht
Referat ZR 3
Graurheindorfer Straße 108
D-53117 Bonn

Fon: 0228 / 4108-0
Fax: 0228 / 4108-62299
E-mail: schlichtungsstelle@bafin.de

Please note that the language of the arbitration procedure is German and your application needs to be submitted in German to be accepted by the arbitrators.

May an application for arbitration be denied?

Yes, the arbitrator may reject arbitration by notifying the applicant in writing, if

• the application submitted was not adequate;
• the consumer dispute resolution entity is not responsible for the dispute and the application is not to be submitted to the responsible consumer dispute resolution entity or another dispute resolution entity in accordance with section 24 of the FinSV;
• proceedings have already been conducted or are pending at a consumer dispute resolution entity regarding the same dispute;
• where disputes concern the right to conclude a basic payment account contract under the ZKG and administrative proceedings pursuant to sections 48 to 50 of the ZKG to enforce this right are pending or a decision against which there is no appeal has already been made in such proceedings;
• an application for legal aid relating to the dispute has been rejected because the intended assertion of legal rights had no reasonable prospect of success or appeared to be malicious;
• the dispute is pending before a court or a judgement on the merits of the case has been issued by a court;
• a settlement has been reached in the dispute or it has been otherwise resolved, or
• the claim which is the subject of the dispute is time-barred and the adverse party refers to the statute of limitations.

What are the stages of the procedure for resolving disputes?

The office of the BaFin arbitration board confirms the receipt of your application for arbitration and examines the documents submitted. If necessary, it requests you to make corrections or submit further documentation.

If the examination shows that your submission is admissible, the office of the BaFin arbitration board forwards it to the company in question. The company now has one month in which to make a statement on the complaint.

On receipt of the company’s statement, the office then forwards the statement to you.

If the company in question declares in its statement that it is willing to settle your matter, the office informs you that the arbitration procedure has been completed.

If, in its statement, the company declares that it is not willing to settle your matter, the office informs you that you have one month in which you may comment on this response. The office subsequently presents the case to the responsible arbitrator.

The arbitrator takes a decision on the basis of the documents submitted by both sides in the case so far. If the arbitrator decides it is necessary, they may request that the parties make additional statements or provide more information. The arbitrator does not take evidence unless evidence can be provided by the parties by submission of documents.

Once the arbitrator has decided that all necessary documents for a proposal are available, they inform the parties concerned of this and then have 90 days in which to produce an arbitration proposal.

Arbitration process

BaFin

What does the arbitration proposal mean for me?

Based on the information submitted by the parties to the dispute, the arbitrator produces a written proposal of how the dispute can be resolved and states the reasons for this in a concise and understandable way. Both sides then receive the proposal.

They must then decide whether to accept the proposal and provide their decision in writing to the arbitrator within six weeks. After the six-week period has expired, the arbitration board informs the parties involved of the result.

This ends the arbitration proceedings. If one of the parties involved does not accept the result of arbitration, it may still take legal action. This means that you, as the consumer, may bring the matter before the courts.

Some courts will demand that the claimant submit a certificate of failed attempt at settlement (see section 15a (3) sentence 3 of the German Introductory Act for the Code of Civil Procedure (Gesetz betreffend die Einführung der Zivilprozessordnung – EGZPO)). If the arbitration procedure fails to resolve the dispute between the parties, the notification of the office of the BaFin arbitration board about the outcome of proceedings is deemed to be such a certificate.

How much does arbitration cost?

Arbitration proceedings are free of charge for the consumer. However, expenses such as postage, telephone charges, photocopying or costs of legal counsel are not reimbursed. For companies involved in proceedings, the arbitration board imposes a flat fee of €200.

Frequently asked questions regarding arbitration with BaFin