Baden‑Württemberg’s finance minister Danyal Bayaz of the Greens says that a key consequence of the criminal Cum‑Ex schemes is the need for better inter‑agency networking. He told the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” that the first priority is robust supervision and adequate resources for the entire tax and financial administration at both federal and state levels, as well as for financial regulatory bodies. “We need a culture that is really willing to tackle the problems” he added.
Bayaz also stressed the importance of technology to “find the needle in the digital haystack”. However, he cautions that the solution is not just more equipment but, more critically, the qualitative capabilities of staff and improved communication between agencies. “In the end, it’s not about creating new authorities but about better connecting the structures we already have and breaking down silos”. He argues that lessons from the Cum‑Ex fallout should ensure earlier cooperation-especially on an international level-to achieve faster results.
Related to the Cum‑Ex tax scandal, the Stuttgart public prosecutor’s office brought charges last summer against two former employees of Landesbank Baden‑Württemberg (LBBW). The men allegedly carried out illegal share transactions in 2008 that caused the state a tax loss of roughly €145 million. Whether the indictment will be accepted remains undecided.
Bayaz did not comment on the specific case. He recalled that, at the tax administration level, there has always been intensive and open communication among all federal states, including Baden‑Württemberg. “I have the impression that all involved parties have a strong interest in resolving the matter-at least from a self‑interested perspective” he said. “When criticism has arisen, we have followed up. Of course we have also learned from it. We must prevent such events from happening again, and we need to speed up the resolution of criminal wrongdoing”.
On the broader fight against economic and financial crime, Bayaz regards Italy as ahead of Germany in some respects. He mentioned that Italian colleagues tell him that a cash‑limit threshold makes money laundering harder and simplifies authorities’ efforts to curb criminals. From mid‑2027, a EU‑wide limit of €10 000 will apply to business transactions. “That’s an important step forward” he noted. He said that a similar cash‑limit for private transactions has not yet been planned, but “a comparable EU‑wide solution could also be conceivable here”.
