Whilst I wouldn't put it that way , it does seem like the German financial regulators and investment industry have something to learn from the Wirecard problem.

When the FT and others started raising concerns about Wirecard's finances, BaFin took what I believe was an unprecedented step and sued the FT.

A better approach might have been to launch an earlier investigation into whether the allegations had any substance to them.

There also need to be lessons learned from an audit perspective. EY signed off on previous years accounts which now appear that they might have had issues...

It's on the German financial monitor to have chosen "stop short selling" instead of "let's investigate this" when allegations surfaced last year.

In this sense, it's the Germans that need to learn something. It seems there is awareness of this[0].

Hopefully others will learn from it too, anyway.

[0]https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-22/wirecard-...

It could happen anywhere -- the US has it's share of cowboys too. WeWork, Thanos etc. Ireland too has had a few cowboys.

Merkel might have to step in to clean this up -- it's embarrasing because of the number of German institutions that protected this fraud. The German Financial Regulator went after professionally accredited investigative journalists and seemed to indulge in other face palms.

Thanos, the famous Elizabeth Holmes' company that tried to kill the Avengers

Theranos. Certainly a hell of a typo.

With one snap of one's fingers, half the company's 'value' dies in an instant.

Theranos didn't try to kill the Avengers though.

One weird thing I have noticed is that in the UK the phrase “The Germans” is often used instead of “Germany” (where it’s grammatically valid, of course) for some reason. It’s really noticeable if you watch British TV coverage of the World Cup or European Championships.

Don’t know if the OP is British or living there, but it’s possible that this is what’s happening and they don’t mean “all Germans ...” and just mean “The appropriate body in Germany the country ...

Very common here in the US to do this with all countries. "Germany" is a country, whereas "Germans" are people. So in a sporting context saying something like "The Germans are better at passing the ball" makes more grammatical sense than "Germany is better at passing the ball". Same for the Italians, the French, etc.

It’s not quite the same actually. You’ll see the commentators occasionally reference Italy/The Italians or France/the French ... but the way they use “The Germans” is on a different level. I also feel like it’s also said with a weird intonation, so not “The Germans” but “The Germans” - with a little snarl :-D

I don’t know how to explain it - you’d need to watch a World Cup with BBC and ITV coverage to see it in action. England have a special footballing history with Germany so it may be related to this.

Note: not implying this was what the original person meant, this is just a silly tangent :-)

I think UK English carries the intent that Germany is a physical place - an abstract legal notion. While The Germans are the people who live in this place. The place and notion can't really learn anything, while the people who live there could learn something.

German regulators absolutely do have to learn that this isn't something that could only happens elsewhere.

I agree. But that’s very different from saying “The Germans”