As of: 09/01/2022 1:42 p.m
The financial regulator BaFin draws further consequences from the Wirecard scandal. In the future, employees of the authority will no longer be allowed to do business with shares, bonds and other securities.
As a consequence of the Wirecard scandal, the financial supervisory authority BaFin is largely restricting private trading in shares, bonds and other securities by its employees. “The aim of the service instructions for private financial transactions by Bafin employees, which will come into force on September 1, 2022, is to prevent any appearance of misuse of confidential information,” said Mark Branson, President of the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority. The new rules are among the strictest in the world.
Business just before the Wirecard collapse
For example, all Bafin employees are prohibited from trading shares in companies that the authority supervises. Speculative financial transactions, i.e. short-term trading with derivatives or shares, for example, are also prohibited. All BaFin employees must report financial transactions from the first euro.
After the collapse of the DAX group Wirecard in the summer of 2020, BaFin had already tightened its previously very relaxed rules for financial transactions by its employees. In the course of the scandal, it became known that some BaFin employees had been trading in Wirecard derivatives shortly before the payment service provider collapsed.
The authority reported an employee on suspicion of insider trading and released him. According to the latest information from the Bafin, “all suspicions could be dispelled” in this case.
42 instances of possible rule violations
Overall, according to Bafin, when processing the Wirecard scandal, 42 employees of the financial supervisory authority found indications of a violation in connection with the rules on private financial transactions. With 19 employees, it is therefore still being checked whether a procedure will be opened, twelve procedures are still ongoing. Eleven cases were partially completed with fines.