Measure taken by the supervisory authority in the event of suspected violations of laws and regulations at institutions. The legal basis is § 44 of the German Banking Act (KWG). The Federal Financial Supervisory Authority may conduct its own audits, but may also commission the Deutsche Bundesbank or – especially in the case of doubts regarding proper accounting – auditors to do so. The supervisory authority acts either – on the basis of (by reason of) consumer complaints, following indications from the industry or often also from within the company (“upon application submitted”), – on the basis of its own findings, for example from the management information system (“supervisory-driven”; on the initiative of the supervisory authority) or – on a rotational basis (according to schedule). The focus of special audits in recent years has been on cooperative banks. – In 2010, there were just over 2,000 institutions in Germany. At these, 258 audits were carried out in the same year – 166 in relation to MaK alone: a burden often blamed by the banking industry. – See fine, false declaration, measure in case of danger, warning, whistleblower, penalty payment – Cf. the respective annual reports of BaFin; there under the respective banking group; Annual Report 2005 of BaFin, p. 116 (overview of audit subjects), Annual Report 2006 of BaFin, p: 68 f. (226 supervisory-driven special audits year 2006), p. 134 f. (individual cases), Annual Report 2007 of BaFin, pp. 129 f. (168 supervisory-driven audits; West LB case), pp. 133 f. (complaints at cooperative banks), p. 215 (special audits at branches of foreign banks revealed deficiencies), BaFin Annual Report 2008, pp. 126 ff. (special audits broken down by various aspects; results; “problematic institutions”), pp. 139 f. (withdrawal of permission for errant institution), pp. 140 (institution at fault in terms of compliance), BaFin Annual Report 2009, pp. 142 ff. (routine audits are legal), p 144 (distribution of special audits by institution group), BaFin Annual Report 2010, pp. 161 ff. (results of 2010 audit activities; focus on problematic institutions), BaFin Annual Report 2011, pp. 164 ff. (supervisory-driven special audits increased), BaFin Annual Report 2012, pp. 145 ff. (one in three problematic institutions was the subject of a supervisory-driven audit; audit on compensation systems), BaFin Annual Report 2013, pp. 106 f. (statistics on special audits), and the respective BaFin Annual Report, chapter “Supervision of Banks, Financial Service Providers, and Payment Institutions,” section “Supervisory Activities.”
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University Professor Dr. Gerhard Merk, Dipl.rer.pol., Dipl.rer.oec.
Professor Dr. Eckehard Krah, Dipl.rer.pol.
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