Financial Crime World

Germany’s Financial Crime Investigation Methods Under Scrutiny: A Look at the FIU’s Workload and Rights of Individuals

The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), also known as the Central Office for Financial Transaction Investigations, has been handling a staggering number of suspicious transaction reports in Germany. In 2020 alone, it received over 144,000 reports, with the majority being related to money laundering and terrorist financing.

The FIU’s Primary Responsibility

The FIU’s primary responsibility is to analyze these reports for connections to criminal offenses, including money laundering and terrorist financing. The unit relies on reports from various bodies, such as:

  • Banks
  • Insurance companies
  • Real estate agents

These bodies are required by law to report suspicious transactions.

Criticism of the FIU’s Performance

Despite the significant number of reports, the FIU has faced criticism for its lackluster performance in terms of prosecutions. In 2020:

  • Only 79 out of over 12,000 feedback messages from investigative authorities led to a verdict
  • This represents a rate of just 0.6%

The low conviction rate has raised concerns about the effectiveness of the FIU’s methods.

The Unit’s Workload

The unit’s workload has become increasingly unmanageable, with its database growing exponentially. As of May 2020:

  • It contained over 282,000 suspicious transaction reports
  • Some of these reports were deemed not substantial and others remained unprocessed

Rights of Individuals

Individuals who suspect their data may be stored in the FIU’s database have the right to request information about whether personal data is held by the unit. They can also exercise rights of:

  • Rectification: correcting inaccuracies in their data
  • Erasure: deleting their data from the database
  • Restriction of processing: limiting how their data is used

These rights are outlined in Section 37 of the Money Laundering Act (GwG).

Search Opportunities and Access to Data

The FIU has extensive search opportunities in public authority databases for the purpose of analysis, including:

  • Police information networks
  • Central Registers of Foreigners
  • Account master data

Contact Information

For those seeking further information or assistance, the Generalzolldirektion’s Financial Intelligence Unit can be contacted at:

Postfach 85 05 55, 51030 Köln

Complaints regarding personal data protection can be filed with the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (BfDI) at:

Graurheindorfer Str. 153, 53117 Bonn

As Germany continues to grapple with financial crime, the FIU’s methods and performance will remain under scrutiny.