British regulator brought in to sort out German watchdog

Germany has tapped Mark Branson from Swiss economic regulator Finma to head its beleaguered economic watchdog Bafin, the finance ministry stated on Monday.

Mr Branson, a British-born mathematician with Swiss and British citizenship, will choose up the new write-up “in the middle of the year”, the ministry stated.

He will succeed Felix Hufeld, who was sacked in January more than Bafin’s failure to avert the Wirecard fraud – Germany’s largest accounting scandal in dwelling memory.

Mr Branson will be billed with employing reforms introduced in February created to permit the regulator to discover fraud additional promptly and properly, with a even bigger emphasis on whistleblowers.

With Mr Branson “at the helm”, the regulator will continue on with the reforms aimed at supplying it “additional enamel”, finance minister Olaf Scholz stated.

Mr Branson, fifty two, has been head of the Swiss economic market place regulator Finma since 2014, acquiring joined in 2010.