BaFin Employees Traded 3x More in Wirecard Prior to Bankruptcy

Employees at the German financial regulator, BaFin, traded significantly more the Dax listed Wirecard than previously.

According to Germany’s financial paper in the first half of 2020, 2.4 percent of all reported private financial transactions by Bafin employees were transactions with Wirecard shares or share derivatives.

That compares to just 1.2 percent in all of 2018 and 1.7 percent in all of 2019 with no breakdown provided by month or halves.

Therefore we’ve made our own simple calculation suggesting 0.85% in the first half of 2019, which translated to the 2.4% for the first half of 2020 being 3x more.

According to the Ministry of Finance, around 20 percent of Bafin employees reported private financial transactions in 2019 and the first half of 2020. They were all approved by the line managers.

Apparently the financial regulator considers their employees’ purchases and sales to be non-suspicious.

“Not unusual or noticeable” this significant increase in Wirecard trading before its spectacular downfall due to accounting fraud Bafin said according to a local paper.

Instead such employees apparently found a big jump in their interest for Wirecard due to media reports and the company’s own report of their performance.

What is becoming one of the biggest party in Germany, the Greens, had asked for this information, with both Bafin and the Ministry of Finance criticized in Germany.

Wirecard had a crypto subsidiary with the prime suspect in this scandal bitcoining “from Dubai to Russia.”

Just what happened exactly and how they got away with it for so long remains unclear, with the investigation continuing.

Comments