The President of the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin), Mark Branson, who took office on August 1, has set the first sign: He has brought the Commerzbank divisional director in corporate business, Birgit Rodolphe, to Bonn for supervision.

As of November 1st, she will take over as Executive Director in charge of the resolution area.

Rodolphe will thus be responsible for the area of ​​money laundering prevention, which is becoming increasingly important at BaFin.

Markus Frühauf

Editor in business.

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With this commitment, Branson, who until a few months ago was still head of the Swiss financial supervisory authority Finma, succeeded in implementing his announcements in the Bundestag Finance Committee shortly after his appointment in the spring: At that time, the native Briton with a Swiss passport said that he would also work in financial supervision must be attractive to personnel from the financial sector.

In his words, managers must find it appealing to work for supervision in the middle of their career.

Before the members of the Bundestag, Branson confidently said: "Germany needs world-class financial supervision."

In the wake of the Wirecard affair

The Bonn authority, which is subordinate to the Federal Ministry of Finance, is a long way from this after the Wirecard affair. In particular, the transactions of some employees with shares in the insolvent payment service provider have damaged public confidence. On Wednesday, Branson had to close a final loophole with the appointment of Thomas Pötzsch as the new executive director for securities supervision and asset management, which was caused by the controversial short sale ban imposed by BaFin on Wirecard shares in spring 2019 and the criminal complaint against two journalists who reported critical of the DAX company at the time the Financial Times was ripped off.

Elisabeth Roegele, who was BaFin's top securities supervisor at the time, is said to have campaigned for the ban on short selling. At the beginning of the year she had to go with Branson's predecessor Felix Hufeld after BaFin reported an employee on suspicion of insider trading in Wirecard shares. Until now, Pötzsch was responsible for processing and money laundering. "This strengthening of the BaFin management team is an important step," said Branson.