By AMLi Correspondents
THE HEAD of Germany’s financial watchdog Felix Hufeld has been pushed out by the country’s finance minister.
Hufeld who led BaFin has been forced out in the wake of the Wirecard collapse scandal and after it emerged his agency knew of AML concerns in the payments company.
Finance Minister Olaf Scholz has now called for a full re-organization of the under fire watchdog.
“The Wirecard scandal has revealed that Germany’s financial supervision needs a reorganization,” Scholz said said in a statement.
Hufeld’s deputy Elisabeth Roegele, in charge of financial markets supervision, will keep her job.
The acknowledgement of problems was a fresh indictment of Germany’s supervision of a company that began by processing payments for gambling and pornography before becoming a star of “fintech” – financial technology – and finally Germany’s biggest fraud case.
It was claimed by the finance ministry claimed the decision to replace Hufeld was mutual but sources denied this. The departure comes ahead of the results of a ministry examination of a restructuring of the agency to be presented next week.
Calls for Hufeld’s removal gathered pace Thursday in the wake of BaFin reporting one of its own employees to state prosecutors on suspicion of insider trading linked to Wirecard, shortly before the firm folded.
Hufeld meanwhile said in the Finance ministry statement that BaFin had grown in significance and relevance during his six years as president. “Now there are other tasks to tackle,” he said, wishing his successor the best.
BaFin declined to comment further.
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