Wirecard collapse and Germany: The cultural factors

THE fallout from the collapse of Wirecard, Germany's long-time financial darling, has two dimensions. Of course, there is now plenty of infighting among key German government departments, financial supervision agencies and auditing firms about who is responsible for this mess.

But more significantly, the Wirecard collapse directly reflects severe shortcomings in Germany's political and business culture. These cultural factors are a key part of the explanation of why the fraud could fester so easily and last for so long.

At issue is nothing less than Germany's gaps in properly understanding the core principles of transparency, financial capitalism and effective supervision.