EU crowdfunding permission: Zinsbaustein obtains licence as EU crowdfunding service provider with Osborne Clarke

The crowdfunding platform Zinsbaustein is the first company in Germany to receive authorisation from the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) to provide crowdfunding services in accordance with the Regulation for European Crowdfunding Service Providers (ECSP) in Germany.

The ECSP Regulation sets a new regulatory framework for swarm finance service providers. Digital platforms that want to distribute securities or loans up to a total issue volume of EUR 5 million per project to private investors fall within its scope. Those platforms that have so far offered securities with a traditional national securities licence will mandatorily need an ECSP licence from November 2023 at the latest (after the end of the transitional period) if the offerings are limited to an issue volume of EUR 5 million or less.

Since the licence is based on a European regulation, platforms with the so-called EU passport will then be able to offer their services throughout Europe under a single permit.

While many crowdfunding platforms have so far mainly offered subordinated loans to their investors for investment, with the ECSP regulation, senior loans or securities such as bearer bonds (debentures) can also be offered to investors for purchase without having to be a bank themselves.
Zinsbaustein GmbH (also trading under zinsbaustein.de) is a curated digital investment platform for selected real estate investments from Berlin, which previously had a commercial licence for loan and financial investment brokerage. With the ECSP licence, Zinsbaustein will be able to offer investors new products in a supervised framework. The managing directors of Zinsbaustein are Volker Wohlfarth and Markus Kreuter, who hold a business management licence in accordance with the ECSP Regulation.

Zinsbaustein was legally advised by the international legal practice Osborne Clarke, with Dr Robert Oppenheim (Partner and lead), Eric Romba (Partner) and Tim Taesler (Associate) from their Berlin office. The team has proven expertise in the field of swarm financing, securities products and processes as well as BaFin authorisation procedures. 

“With the authorisation, we at Osborne Clarke are once again demonstrating our ability to innovate, also in legal advice. Particularly in young areas of law, with new laws, we can play off our strong understanding of law and technology,” said Dr Robert Oppenheim.

Eric Romba adds: “Once again, as with the first BaFin-approved securities token, our team has successfully helped clients achieve an important entrepreneurial milestone.”