Interview on political plans to combat money laundering

Interview with Dr Jacob Wende

On 19 February 2025, the Frankfurter Rundschau published an article entitled "Germany is a paradise for money laundering: the Greens want to combat it with this plan". The article presented political proposals to combat money laundering in Germany more effectively, in line with the 2025 federal election campaign.

The core of the measures presented are

• the establishment of a Federal Office for Financial Crime (BBF)
• Binding transparency rules
• and upper limits for cash payments, especially for property purchases.

In the article, Dr Jacob Wende, CEO of Regpit, shares his assessment of the planned measures. He generally welcomes the political will to combat money laundering more resolutely, but points out that many of the announced measures have not yet been concretised in detail.

"[The measures] are of course to be welcomed. However, the details and specific measures remain unclear. [...] The BBF was actually supposed to come into force during this legislative period and would have linked several important tasks. However, the Greens have stopped the legislative process." - Dr Jacob Wende

Wende thus emphasises the importance of clear, practical implementation in order to achieve a real impact on the market.

The full article is available online at Frankfurter Rundschau: Read article →