Banking and Financial Institutions

The banking industry is the central business sector of every functioning economy. However, this special status also means that the public visibility of this business sector is continuously increasing, meaning that it also attracts more and more attention from the legislating body. The result is that the thicket of legal rules (both regulatory and statutory) to which the banking industry is subject is constantly growing. The additional overlay of rules at the EU level does not make things any easier.

The legal issues relevant to the banking industry are typically not limited to individual cases; to some extent, the banking business is even a mass market nowadays. Thus, court decisions under banking law will often take on significance going beyond the individual case before the court. More and more, decisions by the so-called “banking panel” at the Federal Court of Justice are reported by the general media and thus capture the attention of the public at large. This is particularly the case in matters involving issues of investor protection, but it also holds true for cases in the area of payment transactions and in cases involving ”general terms and conditions of business”. In all of these cases, banks can, as a rule, be certain that the public will be watching them closely.

BMT is a trusted guide for banking clients in this environment. Our clientele includes German and international banks, whom we advise on a full-service basis. Our lawyers support and advise banks and savings institutions in regulatory matters and with respect to legal issues in the realm of account maintenance and payment transactions. We support banking institutions in connection with insolvencies of their customers, with respect to securities trading and investment deals, and on issues arising in connection with granting and securing loans. We appear on behalf of our clients as claimant’s or defendant’s counsel before district and higher regional courts throughout Germany.

BMT supports financial investors inter alia in acquiring and selling loan portfolios and with respect to issues (from “avoidance of preferences” to “judicial execution proceedings”) arising in the context of enforcing and disposing of receivables and rights acquired by such clients.