DE - New German law to strengthen financial market integrity
On 26 October 2020, the German Federal Ministry of Finance and the German Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection presented the draft bill for a law to strengthen financial market integrity (Finanzmarktintegritätsstärkungsgesetz- FISG).
The objective of the act is to set new corporate governance standards, primarily for listed companies, with regard to audits and financial reporting, e.g. requirements to establish an audit committee endowed with direct information rights, to appoint at least two financial experts as supervisory board members, to rotate the external auditor and to install internal control and risk management systems. The powers of BaFin to order an audit of the financial statements or the report that was the subject of the audit by DPR are to be considerably extended compared to the current legal situation. BaFin would then be able to demand information and the submission of documents from the audited company as well as from the members of its executive bodies and from auditors as well as invite obligated parties to a hearing.