Diversity Reporting in the EU Financial Sector: BaFin's General Ruling on Diversity Disclosures

On 27 March 2025, the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) published a general ruling requiring significant German CRR credit institutions to submit to Deutsche Bundesbank detailed information on the diversity of the composition of their management and supervisory boards. The general ruling complements existing German corporate and regulatory law disclosure and governance requirements in relation to diversity and underscores that the topic is gaining increased attention from EU regulators. It has been issued by the BaFin on the basis of the diversity benchmarking initiative coordinated by the European Banking Authority (EBA). 

Background

EBA’s initiative is anchored in Article 91(1) CRD, which requires institutions to take diversity into account when composing their management bodies. The aim of the benchmarking exercise is to assess the extent to which institutions across Member States comply with requirements for gender-neutral remuneration and implement measures to foster diversity – not only in terms of gender, but also age, professional experience, educational background, and geographical origin. The resulting insights are intended to identify potential shortcomings and inform future legislative refinements aimed at strengthening inclusive governance across the EU financial sector.

To operationalize this, EBA Guidelines set out the concrete reporting obligations for institutions. These include:

• Composition of the management body, including gender representation and professional background.
• Quantitative targets in the institution’s diversity strategy.
• Gender pay gap data at the management body level.
• Policy measures adopted to foster diversity and inclusion.

Selected institutions must submit diversity reports every three years. National supervisory authorities must collect the data from institutions by 30 April 2025 and forward it to the EBA by 15 June 2025.

EBA has published the list of participating institutions on its website, which includes 322 German credit institutions and investment firms. 

BaFin's General Ruling on Diversity Disclosures

The general ruling requires significant CRR credit institutions to submit detailed disclosures on diversity as of 31 December 2024. This includes institutions:

• with a balance sheet total exceeding EUR 15 billion on average across the last four financial years,
• that directly supervised by the ECB, or
• that have been designated as potentially systemically important.

The general ruling does not apply to non-significant institutions, irrespective of whether they have been selected by the EBA for diversity reporting. Disclosures must be made on an individual institution basis and include, among others, information on:

• Number of members of the management board by age and gender.
• Composition of the committees of the supervisory board/board of directors.
• Diversity strategy, including quantitative targets.
• Business activities by region and geographical origin.
• Educational and professional background of the members of the management and supervisory boards.
• Gender pay gap.

The participating institutions are required to submit their reports in XBRL (Extensible Business Reporting Language) format.

Implementation Timelines and Strategic Implications

In light of ongoing legislative adjustments, such as the delayed amendments to the KWG and the Notification Ordinance (AnzV), BaFin’s general ruling ensures that Germany remains aligned with EU deadlines, including:

• 30 April 2025: Submission of diversity data by significant CRR credit institutions to Bundesbank.
• 15 June 2025: Transmission of data by national authorities to EBA.

While EBA’s Guidelines have been applicable since 27 June 2024, significant CRR credit institutions must prepare for a rather tight compliance schedule.