Germany’s financial regulator BaFin issued new requirements for brokers after April’s system outages, which left investors unable to place trades during sharp market swings.

BaFin Clarifies Broker Obligations

In a supervisory notice published this month, BaFin said banks and brokers must ensure that customers can execute trades without disruption, even during periods of heavy demand.

The regulator said institutions must test their IT systems at several times their normal capacity, plan ahead for spikes in activity, and maintain contingency measures. Emergency planning and clear communication with customers are now key supervisory expectations.

The new rules follow outages in early April, when U.S. tariff announcements triggered record traffic on trading apps. According to BaFin, the interaction between different brokers’ systems created bottlenecks, leading to widespread technical failures despite each institution claiming its systems could handle peak loads.

April Disruptions Prompt Action

A BaFin market survey of universal banks, direct banks, and neobrokers confirmed the scale of the problem. The regulator used the findings to set new standards across the brokerage industry.

BaFin said it will continue to investigate the outages and conduct further audits of affected firms. If breaches of supervisory requirements are found, enforcement measures will follow.

Expect ongoing updates as this story evolves.

Source: Finance Magnates