Insider trading was not a crime until 1995? Capital allocation in Germany revolves around raising money for the Mittelstand, which are medium-sized business wh

Insider trading was not a crime until 1995? Capital allocation in Germany revolves around raising money for the Mittelstand, which are medium-sized business where the executives usually own more than half the business, equity investors are connected to the company, and it is only the debt investors who have distance from the company. There are bigger companies in Germany, but liquid equity is still not as important to the Germany economy as it is in the US, so it should not be surprising that the needs of non-insider equity holders has not been as important in Germany. It makes me wonder what the start-up scene here in Germany is really hoping for: I don't see Germany having a straightforward "young IPO" market any time soon. There was an Economist article a couple of months back that might be interesting: http://www.economist.com/node/21535175 http://www.economist.com/node/21535175