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The Wirecard scandal is still a long way from being resolved, and the billions in fraud also have consequences at the European level.
Valdis Dombrovskis, the Vice President of the EU Commission responsible for economic issues, announced in an interview with WELT last September that his authority would draw conclusions from the case.
The EU Commission has now made initial proposals.
WELT has an unofficial working paper, a so-called non-paper, which outlines possible measures at European level.
The eleven-page long paper is not particularly extensive, and many of the proposals aim to adapt existing supervisory rules or to clarify European requirements.
However, there are some ideas that are tough: the Commission officials are proposing, for example, that the liability limits for external auditors should be increased or even eliminated entirely in the case of grossly negligent errors or deliberate misconduct, so that auditors, for example, would have unlimited liability.
"Sufficiently high or even unlimited liability of the auditors can provide incentives to prevent compromises being made in final audits that result in lower-quality audits," the paper says.
The audit group EY had checked the financial statements of Wirecard.
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The commission experts warn, however, that such a step could also have negative consequences.
Higher liability limits could mean that smaller accounting firms can no longer afford the more expensive professional liability insurance.
That could increase the already high concentration in the auditing business.
"Careful consideration is important here," says the paper, which was written for representatives of the EU member states.
In it the draftsmen propose stricter reporting requirements for auditors.
In addition, information should in future be automatically exchanged between the responsible supervisory authorities - both within the member states and across borders.
The European Securities Regulatory Authority ESMA had already submitted an initial report on Wirecard in November and identified significant deficiencies in the German financial regulator.
The EU auditors diagnosed deficiencies, omissions and confusion of competencies in connection with the Wirecard fraud.
Among other things, they had found that confidentiality obligations had prevented the competent supervisory authorities from effectively coordinating.
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The European Parliament asked the Commission to provide an assessment of the consequences that would be necessary in the Wirecard case at EU level.
Markus Ferber, the spokesman for the conservative EPP group in the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee of the European Parliament, feels confirmed by the content of the Commission paper.
"The European Commission's thin list of proposals shows that we have no systemic deficits in European financial supervision," says the CSU politician.
“In the Wirecard case, the Bafin failed, not the European level.
The Bafin management and the Federal Ministry of Finance are responsible for the Wirecard disaster, not the European level. "
The payment service provider Wirecard was considered the German answer to the American Silicon Valley.
Many private investors also had high hopes for the company - many of them large parts of their savings.
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But the group, which was finally even listed in the Dax, has turned out to be a gigantic construct of lies and probably the biggest economic scandal in German post-war history.
According to the public prosecutor's office, the managers are said to have inflated the balance sheet with air bookings in Asia and thus concealed losses in their core business.
Banks and investors alone have been cheated by more than three billion euros.
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