FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Germany’s financial regulator BaFin on Tuesday vowed to look more closely at the business models of the companies it oversees in the wake of collapse of Wirecard and Greensill Bank over the past year.
BaFin has drawn severe criticism for failing to identify problems at the payments company and the bank, two scandals that rocked the reputation of corporate Germany.
The Bonn-based regulator is getting new management and enhanced powers in what the German government hopes will give it a fresh start.
“We need to take a closer look at the business models of the institutions and look more closely look behind their facade,” said Raimund Roeseler, who oversees the banking industry at BaFin.
He said that traditional indicators such as equity and liquidity ratios are not enough to identify risks.
“This means that we will adapt our supervision to the new reality,” he said.
(Reporting by Tom Sims and Patricia Uhlig; Editing by Madeline Chambers)
