Ferdinando Giugliano, Columnist

Wirecard Is a Humiliation for Germany

The accounting scandal has revealed a void at the heart of the country's supervisory regime. It's time for the European Union to step in.

A different picture.

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The scandal at Wirecard AG hasn’t just exposed a multi-billion dollar hole in the accounts of one of Germany’s most hyped fintech companies. It has also revealed a void at the heart of the country’s regulatory regime.

Angela Merkel’s government needs to ask itself some tough questions about the effectiveness of BaFin as a watchdog for its financial markets, including whether it should continue in its present form. But this is a European problem too.