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Wirecard headquarters in Aschheim: the analyst is very close to the management
Photo: Sven Simon / imago images
Commerzbank has terminated the employment relationship with Wirecard analyst Heike Pauls.
The bank confirmed this to SPIEGEL on request.
"Please understand that we are not commenting on the subject further for labor law reasons," said Commerzbank.
The »Handelsblatt« had previously reported on the separation.
The analyst had recommended buying the shares of the scandalous financial group until shortly before its collapse in June 2020 and had given a price target of 230 euros.
The year before, she had called reports about dubious Wirecard methods “fake news”.
Confidential e-mails received by SPIEGEL also show that Pauls supplied the management of Wirecard with exclusive information at the end of 2016.
In it she reported on the concerns of critical investors and described in detail the suspicions that existed against Wirecard at the time.
In addition, she stated in the emails that she had defended the financial group against the allegations.
Wirecard collapsed last summer after it became known that alleged corporate money in the billions simply did not exist.
For years, newspapers like the Financial Times and critical investors had pointed out inconsistencies in the financial services provider.
Even the German financial supervisory authority Bafin did not stop the fraud despite this information.
At the end of last week, it became known that Bafin boss Felix Hufeld and Vice President Elisabeth Roegele would have to vacate their posts.
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