The European Parliament has called for tough examination of the Wirecard scandal and the failure of German supervisor BaFin.
The Legal Affairs Committee and the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee of the European Parliament have sent a joint letter to the EU Commission on Wirecard and European auditing rules.
The letter was prepared by the coordinators of both committees. The EU-Commission is asked to closely examine the events surrounding the Wirecard bankruptcy, assess the role of the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) and European supervisors and draw conclusions withregard to weaknesses in the European legal framework.
MEP Sven Giegold, financial and economic policy spokesperson of the Greens/EFA group commented, The serious conflicts of interest of the major audit firms must be stopped. EU rules on auditing must be changed so that auditors are no longer selected and paid directly by the audited company. Audit firms and advisory business must be completely separated. The EU Audit Directive must be revised quickly and fundamentally”.
“It is embarrassing but necessary that the German financial supervisor BaFin is at the centre of our critical questions. The current position of BaFin is damaging to Germany as a financial centre. Legal reservations and inconsistent enforcement of important rules are bad advice for financial supervision.”
