Tag: BaFin

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Article: Germany’s BaFin investigating Wirecard communication ahead of audit publication

Article - Media

Germany’s BaFin investigating Wirecard communication ahead of audit publication

Reuters, 8 May 2020

BaFin had previously said it would include the findings of the KPMG audit in its ongoing investigation into suspected market manipulation in Wirecard stock.

Comment: Regulatory agencies are easy to manipulate as a secondary means of direct market manipulation. They address only a tiny fraction of the crimes being committed by naked short sellers, while being easily spoofed into helping naked short sellers because they take fraudulent whistleblowers at face value when it suits them to do so.

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Article: Regulators across Europe clash over bans on short selling

Article - Media

Regulators across Europe clash over bans on short selling

Philip Stafford, Laurence Fletcher, Robert Smith

Financial Times, 30 March 2020

France, Spain and Italy issued one-day prohibitions against betting on falling share prices for selected companies — and then longer bans of between one and three months, applied to all stocks listed on their domestic markets. Belgium, Austria and Greece swiftly followed suit, while Esma, the pan-European regulator, demanded tighter standards on reporting of short positions. Markus Ferber, an influential European MEP, urged a co-ordinated ban across the continent. But the clampdown has been partial.

Paywall Access to Article.

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Article: German regulator files complaint on alleged Wirecard manipulation

Article - Media

German regulator files complaint on alleged Wirecard manipulation

BaFin targets two FT journalists and several short-sellers after reports hit payments group’s share price

Olaf Storbeck

Financial Times, 16 April 2019

The German financial watchdog has filed a criminal complaint against two Financial Times journalists and several short sellers, accusing them of potential market manipulation over reports about suspected accounting irregularities at payments processor Wirecard.

Continue reading “Article: German regulator files complaint on alleged Wirecard manipulation”

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Article: Deutsche Bank hit by record $2.5bn Libor-rigging fine

Article - Media, Publications

Deutsche Bank hit by record $2.5bn Libor-rigging fine

Jill Treanor, 23 April 2015

Germany’s Deutsche Bank has been fined a record $2.5bn (£1.7bn) for rigging Libor, ordered to fire seven employees and accused of being obstructive towards regulators in their investigations into the global manipulation of the benchmark rate.

The penalties on Germany’s largest bank also involve a guilty plea to the Department of Justice (DoJ) in the US and a deferred prosecution agreement. The regulators released a cache of emails, electronic messages and phone calls showing the attempts to move the rate used to price £3.5tn of financial contracts. Continue reading “Article: Deutsche Bank hit by record $2.5bn Libor-rigging fine”

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Article: Watchdog says jury out on CDS short-selling impact

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Watchdog says jury out on CDS short-selling impact

Huw Jones, 18 June 2012

There is no firm proof that short-selling credit default swaps (CDS), blamed by some policymakers for exacerbating Greece’s debt problem, damages the underlying government bond market, the world’s top securities body said.

CDS are contracts written by large banks that insure the buyer against a default in an underlying asset such as a government or corporate bond. Continue reading “Article: Watchdog says jury out on CDS short-selling impact”

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Article: Naked Short Selling Banned By EU

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Naked Short Selling Banned By EU

Global Custodian, 15 September 2010

European Regulators have issued new rules aimed at controlling naked short selling and derivatives trading. Naked short selling, where the investor sells shares short without confirming the availability of the stock, has been banned.

Investors will also be forced to disclose their short position in a firm to regulators if it exceeds 0.2%, and to the market as a whole if it crosses 0.5%. Investors will have to disclose short positions on sovereign bonds, even if the position was obtained using credit default swaps.

The ban on naked short selling by the European Commission will be enforced from July 2012 after approval from the European Parliament. Previously, the seller did not have to prove their ability to obtain the stock. According to todays proposal, in order to “to enter a short sale an investor must have borrowed the instruments concerned, entered into an agreement to borrow them, or have an arrangement with a third party to locate and reserve them for lending so that they are delivered by the settlement date [at the latest 4 days after the transaction].” Continue reading “Article: Naked Short Selling Banned By EU”

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Article: Europe Comes to Terms With Market Manipulation; the SEC and the American Media Bury Heads in the Sand

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Europe Comes to Terms With Market Manipulation; the SEC and the American Media Bury Heads in the Sand

Mark Mitchell, DeepCapture,  21 May 2010

Well, the current state of the global financial markets is certainly interesting. I mean, you have to be a bit sick in the head, but if you think about it the right way, it really is “interesting” — sort of like, oo-wee, look, the girl in the cute leotard is falling off the tightrope, there’s no net, and she’s going to go “splat” when she hits that pavement. How interesting! And check it out, the circus animals have gone berserk — the tigers are tearing the trainer into bloody shreds, the elephants are stampeding, the tent might very well collapse, maybe we’re doomed, and look at those clowns – they’re still smiling. How deliciously interesting! Continue reading “Article: Europe Comes to Terms With Market Manipulation; the SEC and the American Media Bury Heads in the Sand”

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Article: Germany bans naked short-selling, swaps speculation

Article - Media, Publications

Germany bans naked short-selling, swaps speculation

China Daily, 19 May 2010

Germany prohibited naked short-selling and speculating on European government bonds with credit-default swaps in an effort to calm the region’s financial markets, sparking investor anxiety about increasing regulation.

The ban, which took effect at the midnight of May 18 and lasts until March 31, 2011, also applies to the shares of 10 banks and insurers, German financial regulator BaFin said in an e-mailed statement. The step was needed because of “exceptional volatility” in euro-area bonds, BaFin said. Continue reading “Article: Germany bans naked short-selling, swaps speculation”

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Article: Germany bans naked short-selling

Article - Media

Germany bans naked short-selling

Holder Hansen, Andreas Rinke

Reuters, 18 May 2010

Germany, in an attack on the financial speculation on which it blames much of the euro zone’s debt crisis, on Tuesday announced a ban on some high-risk bets that prices of bonds and stocks will fall.

Analysts, however, were skeptical that Germany’s surprise move to ban some trades in a strategy known as naked short selling could be effective in taming market volatility, with one saying it suggested “desperation.”

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