2026-01-31

Guideline on the Preparation of Monthly Statements under Section 29 Paragraph 1 of the Payment Services Supervision Act (ZAG)

The Deutsche Bundesbank issued this January 2026 guideline to instruct payment and e-money institutions on preparing and submitting monthly financial statements and additional data under Section 29 Paragraph 1 of the Payment Services Supervision Act (ZAG). The document details the legal basis, reporting deadlines, specific form requirements for different institution types, and precise definitions for every line item in the balance sheet and profit and loss statement. It further outlines the electronic submission process via the ExtraNet portal and specifies the administrative fines applicable for late, incorrect, or missing submissions.

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Guideline on the Preparation of Monthly Statements under Section 29 Paragraph 1 of the Payment Services Supervision Act (ZAG)

Status: January 2026

Change History

VersionChapterChange NoteDateName and Reference Code
1.0AllCreated01.01.2026Deutsche Bundesbank

Table of Contents

Page
Change History ............................................................................................................... 2
Table of Contents ................................................................................................................ 3
List of Abbreviations ....................................................................................................... 4
1 General Principles....................................................................................................... 5
1.1 Legal Basis .............................................................................................. 5
1.1 Institutions Obligated to Submit .................................................................................. 5
1.3 Type and Scope of the Monthly Statement under § 2 ZAGMonAwV and the Additional Information under § 3 ZAGMonAwV................................................................. 6
1.3.1 Payment Institutions and E-Money Institutions....................................................................................... 6
1.3.2 Institutions Holding a License under § 32 KWG (Hybrid Institutions) ...................... 7
1.4 Reporting Period........................................................................................................ 7
1.5 Submission Procedure............................................................................................... 7
1.6 Failure to Submit, Incorrect or Late Submission of Monthly Statements and Additional Information......................................................................................... 8
2 Reporting Questions for Individual Items of the Monthly Statement and Additional Information.................................................................................................... 9
2.1 General Notes ................................................................................................. 9
2.2 Explanations of the Individual Items of the Balance Sheet............................ 9
2.2.1 Assets.......................................................................................................................................... 9
2.2.2 Liabilities..................................................................................................................................... 13
2.3 Explanations of the Individual Items of the Profit and Loss Statement ....... 16
2.4 Explanations of the Individual Items of the Additional Information according to § 3 ZAGMonAwV..................................................................................................... 21
3 Notes on Content and Completion of Reports.................................... 24
3.1 Formal Completion Notes.......................................................................................... 24
3.2 Mathematical Checks.......................................................................................... 24
3.3 Plausibility Checks ............................................................................................. 24

List of Abbreviations

AbbreviationLong Form
AktGStock Corporation Act (Aktiengesetz)
BGBlFederal Law Gazette (Bundesgesetzblatt)
CRRRegulation (EU) No 575/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 on prudential requirements for credit institutions and investment firms and amending Regulation (EU) No 648/2012
Deleg. VO (EU) 241/2014Delegated Regulation (EU) No 241/2014 of the Commission of 7 January 2014 supplementing Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to regulatory technical standards for own funds requirements for institutions
EGHGBIntroductory Act to the Commercial Code (Einführungsgesetz zum Handelsgesetzbuch)
EGVZAGProfit and Loss Statement Form; Annex 5 of the ZAGMonAwV
ESTZAGBalance Sheet Form; Annex 4 of the ZAGMonAwV
FinaRisikoVOrdinance on the Submission of Financial and Risk Solvency Information under the Banking Act (Kreditwesengesetz)
GVZAGProfit and Loss Statement Form; Annex 2 of the ZAGMonAwV
HGBCommercial Code (Handelsgesetzbuch)
KWGBanking Act (Gesetz über das Kreditwesen)
RechZahlVOrdinance on the Accounting of Payment Institutions and E-Money Institutions
STZAGBalance Sheet Form; Annex 1 of the ZAGMonAwV
WAZAGAdditional Information Form – Payment Volume; Annex 3 of the ZAGMonAwV
ZAGPayment Services Supervision Act (Gesetz über die Beaufsichtigung von Zahlungsdiensten – Zahlungsdiensteaufsichtsgesetz)
ZAGAnzVOrdinance on Notifications and Submission of Documents under the Payment Services Supervision Act
ZAGMonAwVOrdinance on the Submission of Monthly Statements under the Payment Services Supervision Act
ZEMReporting Form for Calculating Own Funds Requirements under § 15 ZAG; Annex to § 12 Paragraph 1 ZIEV
ZIEVOrdinance on Adequate Own Funds and Required Coverage for Liability Cases of Institutions under the Payment Services Supervision Act

1 General Principles

1.1 Legal Basis

Pursuant to Section 29 Paragraph 1 Sentence 1 of the Payment Services Supervision Act (ZAG)¹, institutions must submit a monthly statement to the Deutsche Bundesbank immediately after the end of each month. For the regular submission only required every calendar quarter, see Section 1.4.

Section 29 Paragraph 3 ZAG further contains a regulatory authorization to issue further provisions regarding the content, type, scope, timing, as well as the permissible data carriers, transmission paths, and data formats of the monthly statements, in particular to gain insight into the business development of the institutions' asset and earnings position and to identify difficulties at individual institutions during the year.

Based on Section 29 Paragraph 3 Sentence 1 ZAG, the Federal Ministry of Finance, in agreement with the Deutsche Bundesbank, therefore issued the ZAGMonAwV².

This guideline serves to explain the supervisory requirements for the preparation and submission of the monthly statements under Section 29 Paragraph 1 ZAG and contains, for this purpose, notes on the content and completion of the items of the monthly statement and the additional information.

1.2 Institutions Obligated to Submit

Monthly statements and the additional information according to the ZAGMonAwV must be submitted by all payment and e-money institutions.

Payment institutions that only offer payment services in the form of account information services under Section 1 Paragraph 1 Sentence 2 Number 8 ZAG must, pursuant to Section 1 Paragraph 1 Sentence 2 ZAGMonAwV, submit only the additional information according to Section 3 Paragraph 1 Number 2 Letter c ZAGMonAwV.

Information on payment and e-money institutions that simultaneously hold a license to conduct banking business or financial services under Section 32 Paragraph 1 KWG can be found under Section 1.3.2.

1.3 Type and Scope of the Monthly Statement under § 2 ZAGMonAwV and the Additional Information under § 3 ZAGMonAwV

The monthly statement of the institutions consists of a balance sheet as of the end of the respective reporting period (reporting date) as well as a profit and loss statement covering the period since the end of the last financial year (§ 2 ZAGMonAwV).

In addition to the monthly statement, institutions must submit the following additional information according to § 3 ZAGMonAwV:

  • E-money institutions issuing e-money under Section 1 Paragraph 2 Sentence 2 ZAG must state the average e-money circulation within the meaning of Section 1 Paragraph 14 ZAG at the end of the reporting period and the number of e-money instruments issued.
  • Institutions providing payment services under Section 1 Paragraph 1 Sentence 2 Numbers 1 to 6 ZAG must state their payment volume, the number of payment transactions, and the number of payment instruments issued for the respective reporting period (see Section 1.4). Furthermore, the number and total amount of chargebacks must be reported (cf. § 3 Paragraph 2 Sentence 1 ZAGMonAwV). If the information concerns financial transfer business within the meaning of Section 1 Paragraph 1 Sentence 2 Number 6 ZAG, it must additionally be broken down by payment direction based on the payment recipients.
  • Institutions providing payment initiation services under Section 1 Paragraph 1 Sentence 2 Number 7 ZAG must state the value of received refund requests, the number of initiated payment transactions, and the total value of the initiated payment transactions.
  • Institutions providing account information services under Section 1 Paragraph 1 Sentence 2 Number 8 ZAG must state the value of received refund requests, the number of payment accounts accessed, and the total number of customers using account information services.

Supplementary communications regarding the monthly statements and additional information (such as explanations of significant changes in individual items) must continue to be submitted informally to the Competence Center for ZAG and Crypto Supervision of the Deutsche Bundesbank.

1.3.1 Payment Institutions and E-Money Institutions

The monthly statements under § 2 ZAGMonAwV and the additional information under § 3 ZAGMonAwV are to be submitted by payment institutions and e-money institutions using the following forms (cf. § 5 Paragraph 1 Sentence 1 ZAGMonAwV):

  1. Monthly Statement according to § 29 Paragraph 1 Sentence 1 ZAG – Balance Sheet (Form: STZAG) Annex 1 of the ZAGMonAwV

  2. Monthly Statement according to § 29 Paragraph 1 Sentence 1 ZAG – Profit and Loss Statement (Form: GVZAG) Annex 2 of the ZAGMonAwV

  3. Additional Information according to § 3 ZAGMonAwV – Payment Volume (Form: WAZAG) Annex 3 of the ZAGMonAwV

1.3.2 Institutions Holding a License under § 32 KWG (Hybrid Institutions)

Institutions that are simultaneously credit institutions within the meaning of Section 1 Paragraph 1 Sentence 1 KWG and have to submit financial information in accordance with § 25 KWG in conjunction with the FinaRisikoV must submit the monthly statements using the following forms (cf. § 5 Paragraph 1 Sentence 2 ZAG MonAwV):

  1. Monthly Statement according to § 29 Paragraph 1 Sentence 1 ZAG – Balance Sheet (Form: ESTZAG) Annex 4 of the ZAGMonAwV,
  2. Monthly Statement according to § 29 Paragraph 1 Sentence 1 ZAG – Profit and Loss Statement (Form: EGVZAG) Annex 5 of the ZAGMonAwV.

The obligation to use the form for additional information according to § 3 ZAGMonAwV (Form: WAZAG), Annex 3 of the ZAGMonAwV remains in addition.

For institutions that are simultaneously financial service institutions within the meaning of Section 1 Paragraph 1a Sentence 1 KWG, there is no special regulation. Thus, they must use Annexes 1 to 3 according to the ZAGMonAwV (see Section 1.3.1) like pure payment and e-money institutions.

1.4 Reporting Period

The reporting period is the calendar quarter according to § 4 Sentence 1 ZAGMonAwV. However, the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) may, pursuant to § 4 Sentence 2 ZAGMonAwV, reduce the reporting period to a calendar month by decision in individual cases, insofar as this is necessary to fulfill the tasks of BaFin.

1.5 Submission Procedure

The monthly statements under § 2 ZAGMonAwV as well as the additional information under § 3 ZAGMonAwV are to be submitted by the institutions to the Deutsche Bundesbank, each as of the status at the end of the reporting period, by the 20th business day of the following month, according to § 5 Paragraph 2 ZAGMonAwV.

Pursuant to § 5 Paragraph 3 ZAGMonAwV, these reports must be submitted exclusively electronically via the ExtraNet portal of the Deutsche Bundesbank. The Deutsche Bundesbank publishes the data formats to be used and the submission path on its website. Notes on initial registration as well as more detailed information on the file naming conventions to be used are published at https://www.bundesbank.de/en/service/extranet. For technical and factual questions, please contact the ExtraNet Customer Advisory Center; the corresponding contact details can also be found at this location.

1.6 Failure to Submit, Incorrect or Late Submission of Monthly Statements and Additional Information

The failure to submit, incorrect, incomplete, or late submission of monthly statements is an administrative offense under Section 64 Paragraph 3 Number 3b Letter c ZAG, which can be penalized with a fine of up to EUR 100,000 under Section 64 Paragraph 4 ZAG. An administrative offense is committed in particular by anyone who intentionally or negligently fails to submit a monthly statement, or submits it incorrectly, incompletely, or late.

An extension of the submission deadline is not provided for.

2 Reporting Questions for Individual Items of the Monthly Statement and Additional Information

2.1 General Notes

Payment services under Section 1 Paragraph 1 Sentence 2 ZAG and the issuance of e-money under Section 1 Paragraph 2 Sentence 2 ZAG on the one hand (referred to in the forms according to the ZAGMonAwV as "from payment services and from the issuance of e-money") and other business on the other hand (referred to in the forms according to the ZAGMonAwV as "from other activities") must be reported separately.

Further information on individual items of the balance sheet and the profit and loss statement can be found directly in the RechZahlV.

2.2 Explanations of the Individual Items of the Balance Sheet

2.2.1 Assets

0100 Cash Reserves (§ 9 RechZahlV) Legal tender, including foreign banknotes and coins, as well as postal stamps and court fee stamps, must be reported here. Commemorative coins and gold coins acquired at a value higher than their face value, even if they are legal tender, are to be recorded under item 1200 "Other Assets". A separate disclosure of the portion of the credit balance at central banks is required. Only daily callable balances, including daily callable foreign currency balances at central banks of the countries where the institution has branches, may be reported as balances.

0200 Claims on Credit Institutions (§ 10 RechZahlV) All types of claims on domestic and foreign credit institutions must be reported here.

Claims on credit institutions also include:

  1. Registered bonds and non-tradable bearer bonds, order bonds that are not part of a total issue,
  2. Non-tradable order bonds that are part of a total issue,
  3. Registered money market papers and non-tradable bearer money market papers,
  4. Registered participation certificates, non-tradable bearer participation certificates, and other non-securitized redeemable participation rights.

0211 Claims on Credit Institutions on Escrow Accounts³ (§ 10 RechZahlV) In this sub-item, claims on credit institutions from payment services and from the issuance of e-money that meet the requirement of Section 17 Paragraph 1 Sentence 2 Number 1 ZAG and are held on escrow accounts must be reported separately.

0300 Claims on Customers (§ 11 RechZahlV) All types of assets representing claims on domestic and foreign non-banks that are not payment institutions or e-money institutions must be reported, insofar as they are not tradable bonds within the meaning of item 0500 "Bonds and other fixed-income securities". In particular, these are also claims on customers, distribution partners, or companies for which services were rendered.

0312 Claims on Customers from Payment Services and from the Issuance of E-Money, including from Loans (§ 11 RechZahlV) In the sub-item, claims on customers from payment services and from the issuance of e-money that additionally constitute loans according to Section 3 Paragraph 4 ZAG must be reported.

0400 Claims on Institutions within the Meaning of § 1 Paragraph 3 ZAG All types of claims from payment services, e-money business, and other activities on domestic and foreign payment institutions and e-money institutions must be reported here.

0500 Bonds and other fixed-income securities (§ 12 RechZahlV) Securities are considered fixed-income if they are equipped with a variable interest rate, provided this is linked to a specific size, for example, an interbank interest rate or a Euro money market rate, zero-coupon bonds, and bonds that document a proportional claim on revenues from a pooled portfolio of claims.

0510 Money Market Papers (§ 12 RechZahlV) Money market papers are all bonds and other fixed-income securities regardless of their designation, provided their original maturity does not exceed one year.

0520 Bonds and Debentures (§ 12 RechZahlV) Bonds and other fixed-income securities are to be reported here, insofar as they are not under item 0510 "Money Market Papers":

  1. Bearer bonds,
  2. Order bonds that are part of a total issue,
  3. Treasury bills,
  4. Treasury notes and other documented rights, such as commercial papers, euro-notes, certificates of deposit, bons de caisse,
  5. Treasury obligations and debt book claims, and
  6. Coupons collected before maturity.

0600 Shares and other non-fixed-income securities (§ 13 RechZahlV) The following must be reported as shares and other non-fixed-income securities:

  1. Shares, insofar as they are not to be reported under items 0700 "Participations" or 0800 "Shares in Affiliated Companies",
  2. Interim certificates, shares or shares in investment funds, warrants, profit-sharing certificates, tradable participation certificates structured as bearer or order papers, and other non-fixed-income securities, insofar as they are listed on a stock exchange, and
  3. Profit-sharing certificates collected before maturity.

0700 Participations (§ 14 RechZahlV) The content of this item is defined by Section 271 Paragraph 1 HGB.

This item also includes non-securitized equity rights such as e.g.

  • Shares in limited liability companies (GmbH),
  • Participations as personally liable partners in general partnerships (OHG), limited partnerships (KG), limited partnerships on shares (KGaA),
  • Shares as limited partners,
  • Participations as silent partners,
  • Claims from capital contributions to institutions that represent items of core tier 1 capital according to Article 26 CRR at these institutions.

Furthermore, institutions within the meaning of Section 1 Paragraph 3 ZAG in the legal form of a registered cooperative must report cooperative credits at cooperatives under this item according to § 14 RechZahlV.

Shares in a corporation whose nominal amounts in total exceed one-fifth of the nominal capital of this company, or, if no nominal capital exists, one-fifth of the sum of all capital shares in this company, are presumed to be participations. Insofar as a participation relationship simultaneously constitutes a corporate connection according to Section 271 Paragraph 2 HGB, the reporting under item 0800 "Shares in Affiliated Companies" takes precedence over the reporting under item 0700 "Participations".

Note: If applicable, additional notifications under Section 28 Paragraph 1 Number 8 ZAG (see also § 12 ZAGAnzV) must be submitted.

0800 Shares in Affiliated Companies Shares in other companies are to be reported as "Shares in Affiliated Companies" if the conditions specified in Section 271 Paragraph 2 HGB are met. If a corporate connection meets both the conditions under Section 271 Paragraph 1 (participation relationship) and Section 271 Paragraph 2 HGB (shares in affiliated companies), the reporting under item 0800 "Shares in Affiliated Companies" takes precedence over the reporting under item 0700 "Participations".

Note: If applicable, additional notifications under Section 28 Paragraph 1 Number 8 ZAG (see also § 12 ZAGAnzV) must be submitted.

0900 Intangible Assets These include, for example:

  • Purchased goodwill,
  • Domain names,
  • Software,
  • Self-created industrial property rights and similar rights and values,
  • Purchased concessions, industrial property rights and similar rights and values as well as licenses to such rights and values,
  • Advance payments on intangible assets,
  • Expenses for setting up and expanding the business operations, insofar as they have been capitalized.

Note: Mid-year additions or disposals and depreciation change the intangible assets in the balance sheet ("STZAG") dynamically, i.e., they are taken into account immediately. This can lead to deviations between the intangible assets according to the balance sheet and those in the reporting form for calculating the own funds requirements under § 15 ZAG ("ZEM") in conjunction with the ZIEV.

1000 Tangible Assets The following are reported, for example:

  • Land, rights equivalent to land, and buildings, including buildings on foreign land,
  • Technical plants and machinery,
  • Other plants, operational and office equipment,
  • Advance payments and assets under construction, insofar as they constitute fixed assets.

Reporting under tangible assets requires that the assets are intended to serve the business operations permanently (§ 247 Paragraph 2 HGB). Assets that do not meet this requirement must be reported under item 1200 "Other Assets".

1200 Other Assets (§§ 9 and 15 RechZahlV) Claims and other assets that cannot be assigned to any other item must be reported. These include, for example:

  • Claims against shareholders,
  • Tax refund claims,
  • Silver and commemorative coins,
  • Gold coins, even if they are legal tender,
  • Bullion gold, as well as other precious metal holdings (e.g., platinum

1 The Payment Services Supervision Act is cited - as in the following - in the version of 28.02.2025; last amended by Article 11 of the Act of 28 February 2025 (BGBl. 2025 I No. 69). 2 The Ordinance is cited - as in the following - in the version of 13.12.2018; last amended by Article 1 of the Ordinance of 13 December 2018 (BGBl. I p. 2453). 3 With the Act for Urgent Changes in the Financial Market and Tax Law of 28 February 2025, the words "open escrow account at a credit institution" in Section 17 Paragraph 1 Sentence 2 Number 1 Letter b ZAG were replaced by the words "separate account at a credit institution ...". For the purposes of this guideline, customer funds held on the separate accounts are to be reported under item 0211 Claims on Credit Institutions on Escrow Accounts until further notice.