It was a good eight years ago that the great quake was prevented. On March 29, 2017, the EU Commission prohibited the merger of the German Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange. Before that, it had been struggled for months whether such a merger would be correct and sensible – on the other hand, on the other hand, with a view to the further development of the Frankfurt securities exchange, which was operated by Deutsche Börse AG. This ensured that the headquarters of the stock exchange to London should have been relocated, for example because jobs had dropped or saved the stock exchange could have migrated. After the Brexit vote, the no to the merger came from Brussels. In retrospect, however, it is a consensus that the stock market supervision in the Hessian Ministry of Economic Affairs would have prohibited the project with regard to the interests on site. Fight for the interests of the financial center: IHK President Ulrich Casparlucas Bäumldie Opportunity to prevent such plans in Wiesbaden could soon be a thing of the past. Because the European Commission plans to transfer supervisory skills over the Frankfurt Securities Exchange and the Dates Exchange Eurex to the European Securities and Market Authority ESMA (European Securities and Markets Authority) based in Paris. Such considerations can be found in the EU strategy for the establishment of a savings and investment union Siu (Savings and Investments Union) for the European capital markets. From Wiesbaden to Parisfaktically, this would mean that the supervision of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange would no longer be in the Hessian Ministry How the planned merger between Frankfurt and London would disappear at the time. Failed: ex-exchange boss Carsten Kengeter wanted to merge the company with the London Stock Exchange. “From our point of view, such a centralization of the supervision does not have a valid basis,” criticizes Ulrich Caspar, President of the Frankfurt Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Caspar fears that the Frankfurt Börsenplatz could be weakened in the medium to long term. The dynamics go clearly towards Paris, he warns. That means: Central offers could be controlled from there, the Börsenplatz and with it the Frankfurt financial center will lose importance. “Our international importance depends on infrastructure such as airport, fair, the European central bank, the digital node or the stock exchange.” Other actors at the financial center also observe the development critically. The CEO of the Frankfurter Sparkasse, Ingo Wiedemeier, says that he sees no need to reorganize the supervision, “as it is now, it works well,” says Wiedemeier. It could not be in the interests of Frankfurt and Hesse to give the supervision out of his hand, he also warns – and also refers to the principle of subsidiarity, according to which things that can be regulated on site do not have to be lifted on a higher level, in this case of the EU. Developing the capital market supervisory authority and reducing complexity caused by the liberalization of the stock exchange trade. “This liberalization has led to a massive fragmentation – with negative consequences for the price quality,” says Magdeburg stock exchange lawyer Ulrich Burgard. In the eyes of the economic professor, however, the correct answer is neither a centralization of the stock exchange supervision nor a centralization of the stock exchange trading in as few places as possible. Instead, he proposes the standardization of an obligation to continuously include the prices of the three most liquid markets for the respective security in its pricing. He has already commented on merger attempts several times and also presented expert opinions. In the current discussion, Burgard considers the arguments of the EU to be wrong in favor of a concentration of the stock market supervision at ESMA in Paris. If the Esma received full supervision, Burgard even does not assume less, but more bureaucracy, “I am afraid of even more over -regulation – regardless of national market structures”. But exactly this proximity to the structures on site also speaks from the point of view of the IHK to leave the supervision in the hands of the Hessian Ministry of Economic Affairs.IHK fears more bureaucracy IHK President Caspar says that it is a misconception that an EU-centeralization automatically leads to less bureaucracy, “in our experience it is rather the opposite”. Caspar believes that with a reorganization, “complex double structures, additional costs and a new increase in bureaucracy in an EU super authority”. Caspar continues to adapt to the latest assertions that EU regulation wants to go back. Burgard also fears that I am in the medium term in the medium term. At first it is only about supervision, not about any mergers. But if one day a different player would be considered, this could have a negative impact on the financial center and the Frankfurt securities exchange. “All previous stock exchange mergers would have been at the expense of Frankfurt – and there is little to suggest that this will change in the future,” he says. At the request of the F.A.Z. also to the principle of subsidiarity. Brussels is only authorized to act if the EU actions were more effective than national, regional or local measures. Against this background, the Ministry claims that “the decentralized stock market supervision in Hesse has proven itself”, as the spokeswoman emphasized. A stock market supervision at the state level is a supervision close to the location that knows the special features and concerns of the respective financial center and takes into account appropriately. “It supports a sensible development of the location.” An supervision at EU level cannot perform this function due to the lack of on-site reference. “A centralized European supervision runs the risk of not sufficiently taking into account the peculiarities of different national markets. National or location -related interests would take a back seat,” it continues. Disadvantages for the Frankfurt financial center could not be effectively averted, a further risk of a relocation or splitting of supervisory skills is the reduced possibility of influence, for example on the choice of location of the stock exchange operators. “Germany alone will not prevent this” against the arguments in favor of a centralization in the ESMA, the ministry is not an obstacle to an attractive capital market in Europe. “A shift to the ESMA does not use the goal of promoting Europe as a better location for capital -strong investors for the real economy,” said the spokeswoman. The Federal Ministry of Finance, Ulrich Burgard judges, has so far shown little interest in the topic – “and” and under Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil should hardly change anything “. Otherwise, if no Member State would stand against the plans that would also be promoted from Paris in Burgard’s eyes, then Brussels can quickly enforce the reform – “Germany alone will not prevent this.” Wiesbaden pokes on proven structures in Hessian Ministry of Economic Affairs. To react locally and promptly to events at the financial center and have proven their worth today’s supervisory structures. Among other things, the state of Hesse took part in the consultation of the European Commission to the savings and investment union and justified its positions there in detail. More on the topic of the Deutsche Börse with the Frankfurt securities exchange and the EUREX appointments are not only of excellent importance for Hesse, but for the capital market in Germany and Europe, the ministry says. “The relocation of the supervision of ESMA would significantly reduce national and local impact options, which could also lead to a migration of the stock exchanges in the event of a stock exchange merger.” This could have an impact on the financial center and business location, for example with regard to services and jobs in the financial industry.
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