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Olaf Scholz (SPD) has found a new head for the financial supervisory authority BaFin.

An important stage win for the finance minister a few months before the federal election.

The Swiss Mark Branson will head the Bonn authority from summer, which was heavily criticized by the Wirecard bankruptcy.

The German supervisors are accused of having checked the payment service provider from Aschheim too laxly.

BaFin is also said to have acted too cautiously when the Greensill Bank went bankrupt.

The previous president, Felix Hufeld, had to resign in February.

Now Scholz wants to fundamentally reform the authority and create a supervision "with a bite" based on the example of the US supervision SEC.

He has great ambitions: In the future, BaFin should be able to compete with all supervisory authorities in the world.

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The expectations of Branson are correspondingly high.

The new president must embody everything that the new German financial regulator should stand for.

"I am delighted that we have succeeded in gaining Mark Branson, an experienced, internationally recognized specialist for German financial supervision," said Scholz on Monday.

“With him at the helm, we want to continue the reform of BaFin.” Confidence in the German financial center is important and BaFin is a key factor in trust.

Not very attractive job

Scholz had searches worldwide for the post.

In the meantime, it was even speculated that he would have to rely on an interim solution because he could not find a suitable candidate.

The job in the former federal capital is considered comparatively unattractive - also because the authority is subordinate to the Ministry of Finance.

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One woman dropped out early.

Scholz has now surprised the financial scene and his opposition colleagues with a top candidate with an international profile.

Branson is an accomplished overseer and well connected in the international financial scene.

The 52-year-old has been Head of the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority Finma since 2014, he has British and Swiss citizenship, studied mathematics and management at the elite University of Cambridge and worked for the major Swiss banks UBS and Credit Suisse.

In his early days at Finma, he had to defend himself against critics who doubted the independence of the former banker.

But Branson also acted as a supervisor against UBS and other banks, so that these concerns quickly faded into the background.

At the same time, Branson enjoys broad support from banks and insurers.

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And people in Berlin are also enthusiastic about Branson.

Achim Post, deputy parliamentary group leader of the SPD, considers him “a good choice”.

As head of the Swiss financial supervisory authority, he has shown that he is resolutely tackling reforms and is able to enforce clear rules vis-à-vis the players on the financial markets.

"I am convinced that with Mark Branson at the helm, the necessary reform and strengthening of BaFin will continue to be driven forward with assertiveness and dynamism."

According to the Green finance politician, he has important international capital market experience.

"He now has the big task of regaining trust in the financial supervisory authority after the Wirecard disaster and initiating cultural change at BaFin."

Advance praise for the newcomer

FDP financial expert Florian Toncar trusts him to do that.

Branson has sufficient understanding of the private sector and experience as a supervisor to give BaFin a new reputation and new clout, said Toncar.

"The Federal Government should push the personnel realignment of BaFin similarly consistently with the still vacant position of Vice President."

Gerhard Schick, chairman of the citizens' movement Finanzwende, congratulates Olaf Scholz for his election "It is good that Branson comes from outside and can raise problems loudly and tackle them with commitment."

He must transform the often sleeping giant BaFin into a strong guardian of the financial markets.

Fundamental reforms would have to be implemented for this.

And for that, Branson needs clear backing from Berlin, otherwise it won't work. "

Criticism came from the financial policy spokesman for the left-wing parliamentary group, Fabio De Masi.

He complained that Branson's previous employer, the Swiss regulator, was considered relatively lax.

“It is no coincidence that Facebook, for example, is seeking approval in Switzerland with its digital money.

Branson should face a public questionnaire in the German Bundestag. ”After the Wirecard scandal, this is the minimum one would have to expect from the head of the financial supervisory authority.

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The Wirecard bankruptcy is one of the biggest financial scandals of the post-war period.

Among other things, it is investigated for falsification of accounts, fraud, market manipulation and money laundering.

For years there had been repeated indications of discrepancies, especially reports by the British Financial Times (FT) aroused strong doubts about the payment service provider's balance sheets.

Ultimately, the company had to admit that 1.9 billion euros allegedly deposited in accounts in Asia probably never existed.

BaFin must be accused of not having followed up the information vigorously enough.

Instead, she initiated investigations against the "FT" journalists on suspicion of insider trading and at times even forbade investors to bet on falling prices for Wirecard shares.

With shareholders, so the allegation, it gave the impression that everything was in order at Wirecard.

In addition, in June, shortly before the fraud was exposed, Hufeld is said to have at least considered it possible that the then Dax company had been the victim of attacks by foreign investors.

He explained this to Wirecard supervisory board chairman Thomas Eichelmann in a telephone conversation after the company had already discovered that 1.9 billion euros were missing and the EY auditors had refused to give the certificate.

President gets more power

There should be no more misjudgments like this under Branson.

It should also be significantly more powerful than its predecessor.

A new task force and focus oversight, which oversees companies with complex structures, are to be controlled directly by the president.

The authority is to be authorized to question market participants in cases of fraud, to search buildings and to confiscate files - similar to a public prosecutor's office.

The supervisors should exchange more information with market participants, take indications of fraud or market abuse seriously and pursue them proactively.

The declaration often made in the Wirecard affair that one was not responsible should no longer apply.

The pressure on the authority is high to make use of these new rights.

In addition, more and more qualified supervisors should work.

We are looking for auditors and people who have experience in investigating white-collar crime.

However, it is disputed whether the planned increase will be sufficient to significantly increase BaFin's clout.

According to media reports, the Ministry of Finance is stingy here.