While all of Europe is still in the grip of the worst pandemic in a century, Germany’s political and financial establishments are also haunted by the Wirecard AG scandal. It is turning out to be the largest case of accounting fraud in the country’s post-war history. According to its promotion material, Wirecard authorized and processed payments for about 280,000 merchants, … [Read more...] about Germany´s Wirecard scandal – the largest accounting fraud in the country´s postwar history
Regulation & Supervision
Europe’s Forever Unfinished Banking Union
The Deutsche-Commerzbank merger fiasco sheds light on how weak Germany’s private banking sector remains a decade after the financial crisis, in a national market dominated by highly competitive customer-oriented savings banks and cooperative banks. On April 25, 2019, both banks announced that their management boards had come to the conclusion that a German government-supported … [Read more...] about Europe’s Forever Unfinished Banking Union
Deutsche Bank Robbery
Worries about the fragile state of the largest lender in both Germany and Europe, Deutsche Bank AG, dominated the unofficial agenda when bankers and finance officials from all parts of the world came to the annual meetings of International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the Institute of International Finance in Washington this October. At the time, the headlines in the … [Read more...] about Deutsche Bank Robbery
After the bank stress tests, ECB backroom tension lingers
The surprisingly positive outcome of the ECB’s health check for German banks may be something of a reprieve for the strained relations between Germany and the evermore- powerful European Central Bank under its controversial Italian president, Mario Draghi. But for the ECB, the real stress and tests are yet to come for the supervisor tasked with making hard decisions with … [Read more...] about After the bank stress tests, ECB backroom tension lingers
Questionable Legality
The largest bank health check ever undertaken in terms of the number of banks, their overall size, and their geographical reach is keeping thousands of bankers, supervisors, and auditors in overtime this summer in preparation for the launching of the European Central Bank as the eurozone’s lead bank supervisor at the beginning of November. The legality of this most ambitious … [Read more...] about Questionable Legality