Kay Gottschalk, November 20, 2020, Financial Supervision

German Bundestag, Plenarprotokoll 19/193, pp. 24448-24449.

Right honorable Herr President. Honored colleagues. Dear fellow citizens.

Dear colleague Matthias Hauer, brevity is the soul of wit, and not interminable pages.

The topic “Financial Fraud, Financial Criminality” – the colleagues mentioned it – is unfortunately these days again in vogue. The Wirecard case here however indicates – a colleague has said it – a multiple system failure of a particular kind.

The enlightenment – as it was named here – is well underway. Das is gut so, and I am also happy that I can take part in this enlightenment in the corresponding committee.

Unfortunately, some of the delegations here in the sovereign house appear to set false crucial points. Besides, I also thought as I heard Frau Paus: Mein Gott, she has listened to me in many hearings on the topic of the BaFin [Federal Office for Finance]; since, much of it I have already said; I have also gone into it in my speeches.

            Fritz Güntzler (CDU/CSU): What?

Ja, that comes forward. But I am grateful that you here re-cite much of what I in the past two years – we had many hearings on the topic of the BaFin – had said.

             Matthias Hauer (CDU/CSU): I deem that to be a rumor! That cannot be!

The Greens as well as we of the AfD delegation have thus put forward here motions [Drucksache 19/24396, 24398] on a complex of topics which include the areas of corporate governance, formation of supervisory boards, the BaFin’s personnel and competence provisions, – to which I will come – reduction of the time for the obligatory succession, colleague Hauer, of auditors and an increase of the liability limits. The last has been converted, we have written a bit more of same in the motion.

So you see: A bunch of topics. I want to so far only go into our own motions. Unfortunately, these topics are only worth 30 minutes to the sovereign house. Perhaps we should have had here an hour to discuss.

 Matthias Hauer (CDU/CSU): In the time, you would have been able to present the entire motion!

For one, we move – into which I wanted to go – that the future proficiency test [Sachkundeprufung] – an acknowledged topic, colleague Hauer – and the supervision of financial investment brokerage [Finanzanlagenvermittlung] and of fee and financial advising for all Federal states, shall be overtaken by the chambers of industry and commerce and at the same time – at the same time – by the Federal institute for financial services supervision, resulting in: The BaFin shall issue and correspondingly examine a unified standard for the supervision of a proficiency test.

Why do I say that? I had the impression that especially the SPD and the Greens – you had even said it: We are not in accord – want to once again inflate the BaFin. Colleague Hauer, I take you and the CDU/CSU delegation at your word: To concentrate on the core competences.

            Matthias Hauer (CDU/CSU): Yet for that, we do not need your motion!

That means: In some positions, to cleanse the BaFin. For what they cannot do, they shall not receive additional positions to be commissioned, right honorable ladies and gentlemen.

And the failures of the P&R and of the green so-to-say Investors Prokon – as the colleagues have named it – must be blamed on the BaFin. Once again: We follow the experts opinion. With this experts opinion, we have thus cast so-to-say experts opinion in the form of a motion.

            Fabio De Masi (Linke): But which experts?

Something better actually cannot occur.

Yet we come to our second motion, “Reduction of the Time for the Obligatory Succession of Auditors and an Increase of the Liability Limits”. It is known to us that these four years clearly present an obstacle and are difficult. On the other side, that induces: In the first two or three years of examination, one learns to know the business…I believe, in regards so much expertise and benchmarketing in this area, that I can expect that E&Y or other business auditing companies can here climb without a rope and understand the business model.

On that account: A four year rotation, bring the liability limit to 10 million and not to the utopian 20 million euros and otherwise 1 percent of the yearly turnover of the examining firm. And to intercept you: We have clearly demanded what for years has been said directly in regards personal service firms; namely, the separation of tax consultancy and auditing; read the pertinent paragraphs. The science very clearly affirms this, ladies and gentlemen.

It sounds – I turn to the the unfortunately not present Olaf Scholz – : What are necessary are not only laws but a change in the ethic of these officials, a change of mentality, as well as of a government and of a Finance Minister who might do the BaFin proud and simply to therein show where the fire is. How is it so nicely said? Where there is fire, there is also smoke.

            Danyal Bayaz (Greens): Other way around!

On that account, we will vote for a constructive debate. We move, like the colleagues, for a transfer to the Finance Committee and will here constructively accompany the debate with brief but very good motions and measures.

Thank you.

             Matthias Hauer (CDU/CSU): “Brief”, agreed.

             Fabio De Masi (Linke): For once explain “benchmarketing”!

 

[trans: tem]