Mail to financial industry bosses: Ex-Bafin boss is already planning next career


Mail to heads of the financial sector
Ex-Bafin boss is already planning the next career

For critics, the long-time Bafin boss Hufeld is a symbol of the failure of the financial supervision in the Wirecard case. Before leaving his post, Hufeld wrote a farewell email to the executives in the industry he oversees. This can be understood as an offer for future cooperation.

The former Bafin boss Felix Hufeld, who was dismissed in the wake of the Wirecard scandal, began planning an activity for the private sector before the official end of his office at the head of the financial supervisory authority. On his last day at work last Wednesday, Hufeld wrote a farewell email to the Bafin employees and another to his contacts in the financial industry. That reports that Business magazine “Capital”who has received the mail.

In this email to “colleagues, business partners, friends”, Hufeld takes stock of his tenure and thanks for the “great cooperation” with “those executives in the financial industry with whom I have been able to exchange ideas openly and trustingly over many years”. At the end of the email, the 59-year-old goes into his career plans. With his departure from the Bafin, a 12-month cooling period began for him. During this time, politicians and top officials like Hufeld are generally not allowed to accept offers from the private sector. This is to prevent conflicts of interest.

But Hufeld apparently already has concrete ideas for the time after that, which can also be understood as an offer to the executives of the financial industry who have been contacted: “I am no longer aiming for an operational role, but am trying to take on a small but fine portfolio of mandates in to which I can bring my specific experience from the private sector as well as from public office “, writes Hufeld. Attached to the e-mail that was still sent by Hufeld’s official Bafin address is the private e-mail address and telephone number of the outgoing head of the authority.

A Bafin spokeswoman confirmed the existence of the mail to “Capital”. Since the billion-dollar scandal and the collapse of Wirecard last June, the authority and its long-time boss have been criticized. They are accused of failing to adequately examine allegations against Wirecard that have been known for years and instead of taking action against critical journalists. In addition, it became known that Bafin employees who dealt with Wirecard also speculated on shares in the group. Hufeld had described the Wirecard scandal as a “disgrace” in the past, but he always denied any failure by his authority or personal errors.

.