Regulation: the word makes the hairs on the back of the neck stand up for many bankers. Supervision is not least responsible for the fact that the number of banks and savings banks in this country continues to decline. And the reason for the consolidation of savings banks or cooperative banks is almost always the increased demands of the supervisors. After all, job cuts are rarely associated with mergers.

Archibald Preuschat

Editor in the economy

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Of course, Bafin does not want to be called a toothless tiger again, as it was back then: when the flagship DAX company Wirecard turned out to be an air number and many private investors also lost 100 euros and more – per share purchased.

And Deutsche Börse is also happy to be the tough dog when it comes to regulation. At the beginning of May, the Hamburg-based biotech company Evotec was unceremoniously thrown out of the M-Dax mid-cap index by the self-listed operator of the trading venue. Like Wirecard, Evotec was unable to submit audited financial statements in time. But not because, as with the Aschheim-based payment service provider, the auditors got cold feet at the very last moment.

The Hamburg-based biotech company was the victim of a hacker attack, which delayed the presentation of the annual financial statements. Nevertheless, Deutsche Börse did not know mercy. Just this week, Evotec has – again – become a veritable average.

Deutsche Bank in custody

Regulation in the USA was not taken quite so seriously. The collapse of a handful of institutes in the west of the country this spring was also felt in Germany. At least for Deutsche Bank's shareholders. The paper of Germany's largest commercial bank was taken into custody by investors – for whatever reason – and has not recovered to this day.

Deutsche Bank shares have lost almost 10 percent since the beginning of the year. By way of comparison, Germany's leading index, the Dax, rose by more than 13 percent in the same period, and the Euro Stoxx Banks is also a good 5 points higher than at the beginning of the year.

U.S. crypto exchanges under pressure

But that's all a piece of paper compared to what's going on in the U.S. crypto market right now. There, the local regulator wants to freeze the US assets of the world's largest crypto exchange Binance. The accusation: Binance operates an unlicensed securities exchange, manipulated sales with the help of bogus transactions and diverted customer funds. The industry, which has just recovered somewhat from the decline in the price of Bitcoin, is howling.

"It can take months or even years to resolve disputes between exchanges and regulators. With an open exit. For crypto investors in the U.S., this is a really critical situation. There is a lack of legal certainty for the further development of services," says Nourdine Abderrahmane, partner and expert on cryptocurrencies at the banking consultancy LPA. Europe, where cryptocurrencies have been kept on a much shorter regulatory leash for some time, this can be an advantage, the consultant believes. Ergo: There has to be a bit of regulation – but the dose makes the poison.