A new EU-driven rule is reshaping who can broker a consumer loan in Germany, and the Sachkundeprüfung under § 34k of the Gewerbeordnung is the knowledge exam standing behind it. The gazette issue that promulgated the rules says exactly where they come from, and reading the regulation end to end turns up several duties that outlast the exam itself.
What is the §34k Sachkundeprüfung, and why now?
It is the qualifying exam Germany created as part of its implementation of EU Directive 2023/2225 on consumer credit agreements. The regulation behind it, the Darlehensvermittlungsverordnung (DarlVermV), is titled plainly “Verordnung über Darlehensvermittlung”. The directive is named one level up: the DarlVermV was issued as Artikel 1 of the “Verordnung zur Umsetzung der Richtlinie (EU) 2023/2225 über Verbraucherkreditverträge im Gewerberecht”, published in Bundesgesetzblatt 2026 I Nr. 229 on 31 July 2026 and in force from the following day. The § 34k GewO permit requirement itself takes effect later, on 20 November 2026.
Who actually needs this licence?
Anyone brokering consumer loans as a Darlehensvermittler under § 34k Absatz 3 Satz 1 Nummer 3 der Gewerbeordnung. Pass the Sachkundeprüfung and the Industrie- und Handelskammer issues a certificate under Anlage 2 DarlVermV naming the holder “Geprüfter Fachmann für Darlehensvermittlung IHK” or “Geprüfte Fachfrau für Darlehensvermittlung IHK”, the credential a new intermediary actually walks away with.
Can you skip the exam with a different qualification?
For several professions, yes. § 4 Absatz 1 DarlVermV treats a range of completed qualifications as equivalent to passing the Sachkundeprüfung, and only the last group below carries an experience condition:
- Bankkaufmann/-kauffrau or Sparkassenkaufmann/-kauffrau
- Immobilienkaufmann/-kauffrau or Geprüfter Immobilienfachwirt
- Kaufmann/-kauffrau für Versicherungen und Finanzen with the Finanzberatung specialisation, or Geprüfter Bankfachwirt, Fachwirt für Finanzberatung, or the equivalent Versicherungen-und-Finanzen fachwirt titles
- Geprüfter Fachberater für Finanzdienstleistungen, Finanzfachwirt (FH) holding a completed further-education certificate course at a Hochschule, or Automobilkaufmann/-kauffrau, each additionally requiring at least one year of relevant experience brokering or advising on loans
A related route needs no apprenticeship at all: a completed degree in mathematics, economics, or law counts if the applicant can otherwise show the required Sachkunde, ordinarily backed by at least three years of relevant experience. And anyone already holding a permit under § 34i Absatz 1 GewO, or who has passed the § 34i Absatz 2 Nummer 4 Sachkundeprüfung, is recognised as equivalent outright: § 4 Absatz 1 Nummer 1 lists that route first and attaches no further condition to it.
What does passing actually commit you to?
Three conduct duties, and none of them end when the certificate is issued. § 10 DarlVermV sets the standard for every piece of advice given under the licence: “mit der erforderlichen Sachkenntnis, Sorgfalt und Gewissenhaftigkeit im Interesse des Darlehensnehmers”, in the borrower’s interest, not the lender’s. § 11 forbids taking possession or ownership of a borrower’s money in connection with the brokering activity, without exception. § 12 requires records from the moment an engagement is accepted, covering the client’s details, the fee owed and the fee paid, and the date and reason the engagement ended; those records must be made without delay, kept in German, and retained for five years starting at the end of the calendar year in which the last recordable event occurred. Breaching the notification, record-keeping, or documentation duties is an Ordnungswidrigkeit under § 15, an administrative offence a chamber or authority can act on.
Licence holders also carry a standing duty under § 6 to keep their knowledge current across the same three areas the exam tests, and if a self-study course is how they do it, the training provider has to verify the learning outcome, not merely record attendance.
What does the exam itself look like?
Briefly: written only, one nationwide pass threshold of 50 percent of the attainable points, and three subject areas, Kundenberatung, Vermittlung und Beratung zu Allgemein-Verbraucherdarlehen, and Finanzierung und Kreditprodukte, examined in a balanced relation to one another under § 3 DarlVermV. What the regulation does not fix nationwide is the question count or the time limit: § 3 Absatz 5 hands those details to each IHK’s own Satzung, so they vary by chamber.
Every fact above comes from the Darlehensvermittlungsverordnung itself, freely available at gesetze-im-internet.de, and from the Bundesgesetzblatt issue that promulgated it, BGBl. 2026 I Nr. 229 of 31 July 2026. RiverMap Learning’s §34k practice pack, part of the Berufsprüfungen Deutschland app, drills all three Prüfbereiche with 350 original questions, each explanation citing the specific provision it rests on.