PI licensing path in Germany.
PI (Payment Institution) licence in Germany is supervised by Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht (BaFin). Time-to-licence is typically 9–12 months; EU/EEA passporting is available under EMD2 / PSD2.
What this licence allows.
Provide payment services (transfers, acquiring, remittance) without issuing e-money.
BaFin is the most thorough EU regulator. Expect detailed product-by-product Q&A in the application; AML and IT-security questionnaires typically take longest.
- Corporate structure + beneficial ownership (UBO ≤ 25%)
- Initial capital deposited in a regulated EU/EEA bank
- Three-line-of-defence governance model
- AML programme + transaction monitoring policy
- Risk-based KYC + sanctions screening process
- ICT-security questionnaire (DORA-aligned from 2025)
- Outsourcing register (BSS, payment partners, cloud)
Three paths to PI in Germany.
Acquire PI directly from BaFin
Time: 9–12 months. Initial capital: €20,000 – €125,000. Full control, full obligations. Coreal helps with the IT-security questionnaire and three-lines-of-defence model.
Partner with an existing EU EMI
Use a sponsor EMI passport from another EU country (DE, FR, NL, etc.) and operate in Germany under freedom-of-services. Faster: 30–90 days vs 9–12 months.
Use the Coreal EMI passport
Coreal operates under its own EU EMI licence. Operator gets a fully-branded wallet without acquiring any licence. Ships in ~60 days.
Who is the PI regulator in Germany?
Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht (BaFin). They oversee authorisation, ongoing supervision and enforcement for PI licence holders in Germany.
How long does PI authorisation take in Germany?
Typically 9–12 months end-to-end. The bottleneck is usually the regulator's risk and IT-security questionnaire — plan for ≥4 months of regulator dialogue.
Can a Germany PI passport into the rest of the EU?
Yes. Germany is an EU member state, so a PI authorised here can passport into all 27 EU/EEA countries under EMD2 / PSD2.
Bring the perimeter,
leave with a brief.
Read the Wave-1 runbook first.
The full 90-day launch sequence — phases, partner-bank gates, who signs off when. No form to read it.
Read the runbook →INDICATIVE DATA · Numbers and timelines reflect public regulator filings, vendor documentation and our own delivery experience. Per-engagement values vary with operator profile, BSS vintage and regulatory perimeter. Engage early for a fitted estimate under NDA.