DICO
DICO, the Deutsches Institut für Compliance, is a non-profit registered association in Berlin that leading compliance practitioners and experts founded in November 2012. DICO describes itself as an independent, interdisciplinary network for the exchange on compliance in Germany. Its more than 1,000 members come from DAX groups, medium-sized companies, audit and advisory firms, NGOs and universities.
In working groups, DICO members write standards, guidelines and position papers that companies of every size can apply in their compliance work. The institute comments on draft laws and on the German Corporate Governance Code, and it holds the DICO Forum in Berlin once a year. A full-time executive board member and chief compliance officers of large German companies lead the association.
Standards and guidelines
DICO standards describe how companies build parts of a compliance management system, from business partner compliance and internal investigations to compliance risk analysis, whistleblower systems and supply chain management. Further standards deal with training concepts, integrity management, rules management, antitrust compliance and the role of the supervisory board. Guidelines cover narrower practice questions, such as sanctions list screening, due diligence on business with Russia and Belarus and compliance monitoring.
Members read all publications free of charge in the DICO SharePoint. Non-members can order selected standards and guidelines for 30 euros plus VAT (in German) each, as a personalized PDF.
Working groups
DICO sorts its working groups into three areas, called topics, elements and forums. Topic groups work on legal and risk areas such as money laundering prevention, export control and sanctions, data compliance, ESG, antitrust law, human rights and criminal law. Element groups cover parts of a compliance management system, for example risk analysis, internal investigations, training and policy management.
Forum groups bring together compliance staff from medium-sized companies, NGOs, sports organizations and healthcare. Only DICO members can join a working group, and project groups, for example one on US compliance, take on pressing topics for a limited time.
DICO Forum in Berlin
The DICO Forum is the annual two-day conference of the institute in Berlin, with keynotes, panels and a marketplace of partners and sponsors. The 2026 edition on 29 and 30 September carried the motto "Compliance under stress: between cost pressure, AI and global conflicts" and brought together more than 450 participants (in German).
Upcoming fintech and finance events in Germany
Board and office in Berlin
Anna-Maija Mertens has been the full-time executive board member of DICO since April 2024, after ten years as managing director of Transparency International Deutschland. Marie von der Groeben, chief compliance officer of Deutsche Telekom, and Christoph Klahold, chief compliance officer of the BMW Group, are the spokespersons of the board. The board also includes Markus Bamberger, chief compliance officer of Robert Bosch, while Kai Fain is managing director and Stefanie Reichel chairs the administrative council. The office of DICO is at Bergstraße 68 in 10115 Berlin.
Members and membership
The lobby register of the German Bundestag lists 1,228 DICO members as of June 2025 (in German), of which 680 are individuals and 548 are companies and other organizations. Membership is open to companies, associations, universities, public administration, consultancies and politics, because DICO wants these different views in its working groups.
Anti-money laundering rules for corporate groups
In August 2026 DICO signed a joint position of business associations on the EU Anti-Money Laundering Regulation, together with Deutsches Aktieninstitut, the chemical industry association VCI and the automotive association VDA. The paper asks that industrial groups with an in-house financial company are not treated like banks under the new category of financial mixed activity holding companies. The regulation is part of the EU AML package, which also created the new authority AMLA in Frankfurt.
DICO and Finance Loop
Banks and asset managers that launch AI tools or digital asset services face compliance questions on risk analysis, business partner checks and whistleblower systems, which DICO standards also cover. Finance Loop members discuss these compliance questions in the Risk & Compliance track and at events in Frankfurt and Berlin.
Finance Loop is a professional network and has the goal of driving the institutional use of emerging technologies in finance, such as AI, tokenization, stablecoins, and DeFi. Finance Loop helps its members build skills and personal networks in these fields: Investment & Digital Assets, Payments & Digital Money, Digital Infrastructure & Sovereignty, and Risk & Compliance.