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Former Wirecard CEO Markus Braun arrested

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Re: Former Wirecard CEO Markus Braun arrested

#41

Post by ChuckNorris89 »

ThePhysicist wrote: post #30
ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody says SAP is not a good example but the problem is that it's only 1(one) company in such a huge and wealthy country. Smaller countries like Sweden or The Netherlands host more successful unicorns than Germany.

As I said I think the problem is more that most people from IT just tend to ignore companies that don’t fit into their worldview. There are plenty of highly successful technology companies in Germany, just not so many in software.

>the problem is more that most people from IT just tend to ignore companies that don’t fit into their worldview

Why is this a problem? If I studied IT and want a good job in IT then that will interest me the most. Sure, it's good for the overall economy, but what good is it to me that I'm surrounded by pharma or mechanical engineering companies if IT is my bread winner?

Re: Former Wirecard CEO Markus Braun arrested

#42

Post by neuronic »

riffraff wrote: post #38
synaesthesisx wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed - there were glaring red flags since as early as 2008. Here's an account from one of the earliest critics: https://valueandopportunity.com/2020/06/19/wirecard-the-germ... The fact that something this obviously fraudulent dragged on for over a decade is nuts.

Don't forget their auditors who have seen nothing wrong for ten years.

Mention their name. It's Ernst & Young.

Re: Former Wirecard CEO Markus Braun arrested

#43

Post by neuronic »

woodpanel wrote: post #23
xchaotic wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As one person in Germany explained to me - there is no corruption at the low level - it is not worth it for the policeman to lose a nice salary and a pension for a few hundred euros bribe. So you will get a speeding ticket everytime and Germany is known for that sort of 'solidity'. On the higher end, however, the stakes and balances are different - high pay is frowned upon and owners of Aldi supermarkets etc are know…

I'd would rather say: a) Incompetence instead of curruption. Plus b) trust culture as entry-vector. a) It has been bemoaned on many instances regarding Germans and finance: We're just inapt when it comes to knowledge about finance. Teachers unions fight tooth and nail to keep finance and business acumen out of the curriculum. This (itself being rooted in culture) will have to bear fruit in some way or another. Eg. Ge…

E&Y simply had no interest in losing a customer by reporting what was well known to them.

Re: Former Wirecard CEO Markus Braun arrested

#44

Post by pmontra »

ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #35
raxxorrax wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a profound lack of developers to start. I was in a German startup and it was awesome. Product didn't pan out for the mass market (medical devices) but the few devices we build by hand are now used for studies in clinics. So it wasn't at all wasted. Software sucks though because I wrote it shortly after finishing my studies with negligible experience. But it works at least. I got support from another develope…

>There is a profound lack of developers to start. I don't think so. Judging by the low salaries most companies are offering in parallel with the huge number of devs on reddit from outside of the EU wanting to move to Germany it doesn't look like there's a shortage of developers, quite the contrary. If there was a shortage, pretty shore we'd see higher salaries being offered.

Or they don't want to pay more than that so they don't find developers. I saw friends moving from Italy to the UK, Germany and the USA because of that. Maybe developers from Germany move to other countries as well.

Re: Former Wirecard CEO Markus Braun arrested

#45

Post by pythonwizz »

pythonwizz wrote: post #16
raxxorrax wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a profound lack of developers to start. I was in a German startup and it was awesome. Product didn't pan out for the mass market (medical devices) but the few devices we build by hand are now used for studies in clinics. So it wasn't at all wasted. Software sucks though because I wrote it shortly after finishing my studies with negligible experience. But it works at least. I got support from another develope…

What kind of medical devices did you build?

We are starting to develop a medical device, so if you are interested please provide your contact information.

Re: Former Wirecard CEO Markus Braun arrested

#46

Post by hef19898 »

MrBuddyCasino wrote: post #3
matsche wrote: post #2

it baffles me that it had to come this far. There were warning signs all over it. The German BaFin messed up so badly that one must either fundamentally doubt theircompetence or question their integrity.

At least BaFin boss Felix Hufeld admitted they messed up and that the whole thing was the biggest debacle he ever witnessed. This is rare, and I find it respectable. But yeah, how they missed that is hard to comprehend.

Yeah, he did admit that. Difficult not to.

Bafin would look a lot better, IMHO, if in addition to investigate the FT and British short sellers, they also had a closer look at WC. They didn't.

Re: Former Wirecard CEO Markus Braun arrested

#47

Post by celloductor »

matsche wrote: post #2

it baffles me that it had to come this far. There were warning signs all over it. The German BaFin messed up so badly that one must either fundamentally doubt theircompetence or question their integrity.

unfortunately it is common in the country as big companies or party donor often get "protection" from the govt despite their failings. Deutsch Bank and Volkswagen for example. Big scandal (globally) but at home they merely got a slap on the wrist.

Re: Former Wirecard CEO Markus Braun arrested

#50

Post by celloductor »

dmix wrote: post #6
mschuster91 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But yeah, how they missed that is hard to comprehend. Look at the German DAX and what is in there. That is explanation enough. Heavy industry, consumer goods, banks, insurances. The only IT company other than Wirecard is SAP and it is not exactly known for innovation. Everyone, especially politics, wanted Wirecard to succeed: the only actually somewhat innovative IT company in the DAX. It's the same pattern with th…

Or most of the major fraud happened outside of Germany [1] and like most ponzis/frauds they can seem entirely legitimate on the surface until all the tail ends start becoming shorter and there's no Peters left to pay Paul. Plus they seemed to have had a legitimate primary business, more than enough to cover their pump & dumping in foreign countries without strong rule of law. There are always limitations on how much…

like they say- if you owe the bank 100k, or even a million dollars, then it's your problem.

But if you owe the bank 100 million dollars... then it's their problem.

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