Wirecard AG is an insolvent[4] German payment processor and financial services provider whose former CEO, COO, two board members, and other executives have been arrested or otherwise implicated in criminal proceedings.[5] In June 2020, the company announced that €1.9 billion in cash was missing. It owed €3.2 billion in debt. In November 2020, the company was dismantled after it sold the assets of its main business unit to Santander Bank for €100 million. Other assets, including its North American, UK and Brazilian units had been previously sold at nondisclosed prices.[6] The company offered electronic payment transaction services and risk management, and issued and processed physical and virtual cards. As of 2017, the company was listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, and was a part of the DAX stock index from September 2018 to August 2020.
The company is at the center of an international financial scandal. Allegations of accounting malpractices had trailed the company since the early days of its incorporation, reaching a peak in 2019 after the Financial Times published a series of investigations along with whistleblower complaints and internal documents. On 25 June 2020, Wirecard filed for insolvency following revelations that an amount of €1.9 billion was "missing".[7][8] Long-time CEO Markus Braun subsequently resigned and was later arrested. Former COO Jan Marsalek disappeared, after being fired from his position and board seat, and remains a fugitive wanted by the German police. He has been on Europe's Most Wanted list since 2020.[9]
On 25 August 2020, the court-appointed insolvency administrator issued a statement that "under the preliminary insolvency administration, it has since been possible to stabilize the ongoing business and create a basis for its continuation." The statement mentioned how "far-reaching cuts are therefore necessary in order to make any kind of continuation possible" and announced the impending layoff of around 730 employees, in addition to all members of the management board.[10]
In March 2022, Munich public prosecutors charged former CEO, Markus Braun, with fraud, breach of trust and accounting manipulation. If found guilty on all these charges, he could face up to 15 years in prison.[11] Braun was held in the Stadelheim prison as a pre-trial custody until the trial began.[12]
^ abcCite error: The named reference FT0622 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ abc"Annual Report 2018" (PDF). Bloomberg. 31 December 2018. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
^"Interim Report" (PDF). Wirecard. 15 August 2018. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
^Storbeck, Olaf (1 July 2020). "Wirecard administrator starts to dismantle defunct payments group". Financial Times. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
^"Germany: Wirecard ex-CEO back in custody, board members arrested on fraud charges". Deutsche Welle. 22 July 2020. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
^Storbeck, Olaf; Dombey, Daniel (16 November 2020). "Santander buys Wirecard's core European business for €100m". Financial Times. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
^"Wirecard: Scandal-hit firm files for insolvency". BBC News. 25 June 2020. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
^"Germany's beleaguered Wirecard to proceed with business after insolvency". Reuters. 28 June 2020. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
^"MARSALEK, Jan". Europe's most wanted (in Croatian). Retrieved 1 February 2023.
^Jaffé, Michael (25 August 2020). "Opening of insolvency proceedings concerning assets of Wirecard AG". Rechtsanwalt Dr. Michael Jaffé. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
^Storbeck, Olaf (14 March 2022). "Former Wirecard chief executive charged with fraud". The Financial Times. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
^"Wirecard trial of executives opens in German fraud scandal". BBC News. 8 December 2022. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
Wirecard AG is an insolvent German payment processor and financial services provider whose former CEO, COO, two board members, and other executives have...
The Wirecard scandal (German: Wirecard-Skandal) was a series of corrupt business practices and fraudulent financial reporting that led to the insolvency...
German payment processing firm Wirecard, which became insolvent and collapsed in 2020. Marsalek was responsible for Wirecard's business in Asia, where the...
payment processor, Wirecard AG from January 2002 until his resignation and arrest in June 2020. Braun stepped down from Wirecard amidst fraud allegations...
banned short-selling in response to accusations of accounting fraud in Wirecard. As the accusations proved true, BaFin itself was put under scrutiny a...
articles detailing fraud suspicions at German payments group Wirecard. When the Wirecard share price plunged, German news media speculated that market...
the newspaper in 2007. He is best known for his investigation into the Wirecard scandal between 2014 and 2020. McCrum's 2022 book on the scandal Money...
significant financial market infrastructures. In June 2020, he joined Wirecard AG, where he is credited for promptly substantiating and initiating actions...
bond lost money. In June 2020, Naheta criticized Wirecard’s auditor EY in the light of the Wirecard revelations and decried EY’s "lack of competence and...
DAX from 30 to 40 members and a tightening of rules in response to the Wirecard accounting scandal. The expansion occurred in the 3rd quarter of 2021....
transactions with affiliates.” Chanos took and closed a short position on Wirecard AG. Wirecard AG stock dropped about 96% in June 2020 after the company's auditor...
uncovered the Wirecard scandal, one of the largest corporate frauds in history. Gill was the former Singapore-based legal head for Wirecard's Asia-Pacific...
terrorism requirements, in a matter related to the German payments provider Wirecard scandal between July 2015 and February 2020, in relation to the accounts...
failing to discover that €1.9 billion in cash was missing at Wirecard AG, precipitating Wirecard's collapse and eventual sale to Santander Bank for €100 million...
generated in the electronic trading system Xetra. In 2021, in response to the Wirecard scandal, the number of constituents in the DAX was increased from 30 to...
began to suspect irregularities at German payments company Wirecard in 2012 following a Wirecard acquisition in Indonesia, and in 2014 he tipped off Financial...
for Wirecard fiasco". Reuters. Archived from the original on 24 May 2021. Retrieved 24 May 2021. "German minister denies responsibility in Wirecard scandal"...
plans to lend more to the North East's housing market. Ten months later, Wirecard AG of Germany acquired Newcastle Building Society's prepaid card issuing...
anti-terrorism financing rules, in a matter related to the German payments provider Wirecard scandal between June 2015 and January 2016 relating to accounts maintained...
2020). "neue-fragen-im-wirecard-skandal-hatte-der-bnd-wirklich-keine-informationen-ueber-marsalek" [New Questions in the Wirecard-Skandal - does the BND...
April 2024. Retrieved 30 April 2024. "Mondo selects Wirecard as their prepaid card issuer". Wirecard. "What it's like to use a Mondo card and account"....
Since 6 January 2021, Wirecard EUR receiving accounts on Payoneer can only receive payments from approved payment sources. Wirecard AG is insolvent since...
v t e Wirecard scandal Key people Wirecard Markus Braun (ex-CEO) Jan Marsalek (COO) James Freis (Compliance officer and CEO) Regulators and Auditors BaFin...
Awards winners 2020: FT's Dan McCrum crowned journalist of the year for Wirecard investigation". Press Gazette. 9 December 2020. Archived from the original...
Helen (July 10, 2020). "From payments to armaments: the double life of Wirecard's Jan Marsalek". Financial Times. Retrieved July 19, 2020. Will Fitzgibbon...
to the magnitude of the failure. Costly failures like those of Katerra, Wirecard and Zymergen were just a few examples of SoftBank's reckless investing...
Düsseldorf Portigon Financial Services, Düsseldorf solarisBank, Berlin Wirecard Bank see: German Cooperative Financial Group see: Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe...
Global Information
€2.02 billion (under question)[1]