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In the course of the Wirecard scandal, the financial supervisory authority Bafin was targeted by the Frankfurt public prosecutor.
A spokesman for the public prosecutor's office said on Wednesday that it was a preliminary examination and the financial supervisory authority had requested information.
It is about the question of whether the Bafin has fulfilled its supervisory obligations.
The background to this are advertisements from Wirecard shareholders.
The public prosecutor's office also requires information from another federal authority and a private bank.
The speaker did not give any details.
The "Handelsblatt" had previously reported on it.
A Bafin spokeswoman said there had been no search by the public prosecutor's office, the authority had only been given a request for information.
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The financial supervisory authority was criticized in connection with the accounting scandal at Wirecard.
The former DAX company admitted air bookings of 1.9 billion euros in June 2020 and subsequently filed for bankruptcy - according to investigations by the Munich public prosecutor's office, it could total more than three billion euros.
Because this remained undiscovered for years, the Bafin, among other things, has come under fire.
Wirecard shareholders had filed criminal charges.
They accuse the authority of violating their supervisory duties.
On the other hand, it concerns the possibly punishable violation of insider knowledge.
Bafin boss Felix Hufeld and deputy boss Elisabeth Roegele resigned after the suspicion arose that a Bafin employee could have done business with Wirecard papers thanks to insider knowledge.
The supervisory authority reported an employee to the Stuttgart public prosecutor's office on suspicion of insider trading.
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The federal government launched the announced reform of the Bafin on Wednesday.
Among other things, the authority should in future use covert test purchases to check whether customers receive adequate advice before they buy financial products.
At the same time, the supervisory structure of the Bafin is to become more efficient, and the president is to have more powers.
Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD) had announced a comprehensive reform of the Bafin.
Among other things, it is to be strengthened with experts in auditing and balance sheet analysis.
A so-called focus supervision is supposed to take control of complex companies from a single source.
In order to be able to carry out special tests itself, the Bafin should also have a task force with specially trained specialists.