Wirecard
Wirecard AG is a defunct[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] The company offered electronic payment transaction services, risk management, and issued and processed physical and virtual cards. As of 2017, the company operated across all continents, was listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, and was a part of the DAX stock index.
Aktiengesellschaft | |
Traded as | FWB: WDI DAX constituent |
ISIN | DE0007472060 |
Industry | Financial services Payment processor Technology |
Genre | Financial |
Predecessor | InfoGenie AG (Until 6 April 2005) |
Founded | 1 January 1999 |
Defunct | 2020 |
Headquarters | Aschheim, Bavaria, Germany |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | James Freis (CEO) Thomas Eichelmann (chairman of the supervisory board) |
Products | Electronic payment processing Banking Card issuance Mobile payment Risk management |
Revenue | (US$2.31 billion) (2018[2]) |
(US$397.7 million) (2018[2]) | |
Total assets | (US$6.697 billion) (2018[2]) |
Number of employees | 5,300 (Jun 2019[3]) |
Website | www.wirecard.com |
The company is 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 after revelations that €1.9 billion was "missing",[6][7] the termination and arrest of its CEO Markus Braun.
History
Founding and early business model
The company was founded in 1999. In 2002, when it was close to folding at the end of the dot-com bubble, Markus Braun injected capital and joined as CEO. He consolidated the company and focused the business model on providing internet payment services, initially mainly to porn and gambling websites.[8]
Stock listing and relation to InfoGenie AG
The predecessor company of Wirecard regarding the IPO was InfoGenie AG based in Berlin, whose shares had been listed in the Neuer Markt stock market segment since October 2000. This company was active as an information service provider offering telephone advice hotlines on various topics.[9] When the shares became penny stocks following price losses, the stock exchange operator Deutsche Börse wanted to exclude InfoGenie from the Neuer Markt, which was prohibited by court in April 2002.[10] In mid-December 2004, an extraordinary general meeting of InfoGenie decided to transfer the non-listed Wirecard, whose core business was real-time payment processing on the Internet including risk assessment, to InfoGenie AG by way of a capital increase against investment in kind on 1 January 2005, and to rename InfoGenie to Wire Card. Thus, Wire Card became a stock corporation listed in the Prime Standard stock market segment through a reverse IPO.[11] In 2006, Wirecard was included in the TecDAX[12] and in September 2018 in the DAX.[13]
International expansion
Wirecard Asia Pacific was founded in Singapore in 2007.[14] In 2008, Wirecard introduced virtual prepaid credit cards for online payments[15] and in the following year[16] a fraud prevention suite for fraud detection.[17] In 2014, Wirecard expanded to New Zealand, Australia,[18] South Africa[19] and Turkey.[20] With the purchase of Prepaid Card Services from Citigroup, Wirecard has also been represented in North America since 2016.[21] In the same year, the company acquired a South American Internet payment service provider in Brazil.[22]
In 2019, SoftBank invested in Wirecard.[23][24] With the acquisition of AllScore Payment Services from Beijing, Wirecard has also been represented in China since November 2019.[25]
Scandal and insolvency
In January 2020, Wirecard announced that a contract extension would be offered to chief executive Markus Braun.[26][27] But its long-time chairman stepped aside, and in April an auditor found questionable accounting practices. According to auditing firm Ernst & Young, a trustee of Wirecard tried to "deceive the auditor", resulting in the bank processor being unable to release the share results for 2019. In a statement, Wirecard announced that it is "working intensively together with the auditor towards a clarification of the situation".[28]
In June 2020, it was revealed that €1.9 billion was "missing". As a result, Wirecard's share value decreased by over 72%, and its CEO Markus Braun resigned.[29] Wirecard appointed James Freis to the position on an interim basis. Freis had only joined the company the evening before. A few days later, the management board stated that the €1.9 billion amount likely did not exist.[30] Two banks in the Philippines who were allegedly holding the money said that they did not have the sum and never did.[31] The firm's Moodys credit rating was demoted to B3 on 19 June 2020 before this rating was removed entirely 3 days later.[32]
A criminal investigation began on 22 June 2020[1] and Wirecard's recently resigned CEO, Markus Braun, was arrested the same day.[33] On 25 June, Wirecard filed for bankruptcy citing "over-indebtedness".[34]
The UK Financial Conduct Authority froze the activities of Wirecard's British subsidiary, Wirecard Card Solutions Limited, between 26 June 2020 and 30 June 2020, after which Wirecard UK operations were allowed to resume with relaxed restrictions.[35][36]
Products and services
Wirecard is an international supplier of electronic payment and risk management services. Wirecard offered products and services in the areas of mobile payments, e-commerce, digitisation and finance technology. This traditionally comprises the integration of payment methods, payment transactions via e-commerce as well as payment transactions at the stationary checkout (POS). In these areas, Wirecard currently works in cooperation with 280,000 companies (as of December 2018),[37] including Allianz,[38] KLM, Qatar Airways,[39] Rakuten.com and Transport for London, among others. The transaction volume in 2018 was US$125 billion.[37] In the first half of 2019 the transaction volume grew by 37.5 per cent to EUR 77.3 billion.[40]
Mobile payments
Since 2015, Wirecard offers consumers the fully digitalised,[41] mobile payment-app Boon, which works independently of banks or network operators.[42] Boon is based on a virtual Mastercard and runs on mobile devices with the Android or iOS operating systems. The Android version is currently available in Germany, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Ireland. In addition, Boon can be used via Apple Pay in France, Great Britain, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Ireland[43] and Germany.[44] Google Pay supports Boon in France.[45] Boon offers contactless payments via smartphone and tablet through NFC[46] as well as online payments and peer-to-peer transactions.[47]
In the mobile payments sector, Wirecard has negotiated several contracts with telecommunications providers for technical services with regard to mobile smartphone payments based on near-field communication (NFC). The payment processor offers its partners a mobile card reader as a white label programme for the acceptance of card payments via smartphones or tablets.
eCommerce
In terms of acquiring,[48] one focus is travel and transport. Already in 2007, Wirecard took over payments and credit control for the tour operator TUI,[49][50] and in 2014 for KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.[51] The product Supplier and Commission Payments (SCP)[52] by Wirecard is also made to measure the travel sector. It is based on the automatic output of virtual credit cards and enables electronic payments to partners and suppliers, for instance for commission payments. In this way international payments can be made via electronic transfer of virtual credit card numbers.
Since 2014, Wirecard has offered its Checkout Portal – a fully automated application for easily connecting different payment methods in online shops, with a focus on SMEs and virtual marketplaces.
Digitalization of the retail sector
Wirecard also supports high-street retail with digitisation; an example of this is the collaborative project with T-Systems.[53] In 2016, together with the WMF Group, Wirecard developed a mobile app which connects store purchases with online sales.[54]
Alternative Chinese payment methods
Wirecard has been collaborating with Alipay since 2015, to offer Chinese tourists a familiar payment method during their travels in Europe. As part of this, Wirecard has integrated this alternative payment method into the till systems of retailers such as Printemps, The Body Shop and The National Bank of Greece.[55][56][57] The payment procedure has also been integrated with retailers at Munich Airport.[58]
Since July 2017, Wirecard has partnered with Tencent to also offer WeChat Pay.[59]
Card issuing
Many companies worked with Wirecard to issue their own payment cards of various kinds. Some well-known partnerships include: Curve; start-up banks such as Atom[60] and money apps including Revolut[61] and Pokit; spending management apps[62] such as Loot,[63] U Account and Soldo.
mycard2go has been part of Wirecard Bank's portfolio since 2010. It is a prepaid card which can be purchased in stores and is ready to top up following online activation.
Controversies
Beginning in April 2015, the Financial Times blog FT Alphaville wrote a series of blog posts that questioned Wirecard's business model and criticised the company's accounting practices.[64] In February 2017, the German Manager Magazin wrote a lengthy article about Wirecard in which it alleged misleading reporting practices.[8]
Wirecard and the Financial Times controversy
On 30 January 2019, Wirecard shares plunged after the Financial Times reported that a senior executive was suspected of "falsification of accounts" and "money laundering" and round-tripping in the company's Asia-Pacific operations.[65] Wirecard issued a statement calling the report "false, inaccurate, misleading and defamatory".[66] Wirecard also announced a lawsuit against the Financial Times for "unethical reporting" and a lawsuit for market manipulation.[67][68]
The public prosecutor's office Munich I in February 2019 launched criminal investigations against Financial Times journalist Dan McCrum because of alleged violations of the German Securities Trading Act (Wertpapierhandelsgesetz, WpHG).[69] The German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority BaFin banned short selling Wirecard shares on 18 February 2019 until 18 April 2019. According to BaFin, the measure is not meant to take sides in the controversy between Wirecard and the Financial Times.[70] On 15 October 2019, Financial Times published documents which it claimed to be Wirecard's internal accounting spreadsheets.[71]
In 2019, the accounting firm KPMG was hired by Wirecard for an independent audit to address the mentioned allegations. In March 2020, Wirecard claimed that KPMG concluded that no discrepancy was determined during the audit.[72] However, on 28 April 2020, Wirecard shares tumbled 26% when the auditor announced that it had not received sufficient documentation to address all allegations of accounting irregularities.[73] Later on 5 June, Wirecard's headquarters were searched by police as part of a criminal investigation into potentially misleading statements to investors by CEO Markus Braun and three other board members regarding the audit.[74] The company then reported on 18 June 2020 that €1.9 billion was missing in cash from the company's accounts following an audit by Ernst & Young.[75] Braun resigned as CEO the following day to be replaced by James Freis.[76] Over the two days, the company's stock fell 72%.[77] On 22 June 2020, Braun was arrested by German police under accusations of "inflating Wirecard AG's sales volume with fake income".[78]
Allegations of involvement in hacking-for-hire scheme
A report published in June 2020 by the interdisciplinary journalism laboratory Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto stated that persons and organisations publicly critical of Wirecard had been the target of sustained hacking and phishing attempts by a hackers-for-hire group dubbed Dark Basin. According to the report, some of the critical entities, that included hedge funds, short sellers, investigators, and journalists, were "targeted almost daily for months, and continued to receive messages for years". The report linked the attacks "with high confidence" to the Indian company BellTroX InfoTech which has a history of other hacking-for-hire operations.[79][80] U.S. prosecutors in New York and the FBI have reportedly started an investigation into the hacker-for-hire allegations.[81] Wirecard denied any wrongdoing.[79]
Financial data
Year | 2013 | (2014) | (2015) | (2016) | (2017) | (2018) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Revenue | 482 | (601) | (771) | (1,028) | (1,490) | (2,016) |
Net income | 83 | (108) | (143) | (267) | (260) | (347) |
Assets | 1,431 | (1,995) | (2,935) | (3,482) | (4,528) | (5,855) |
Employees | 1,025 | 1,750 | 2,300 | 3,766 | 4,449 | 5,300 |
Wirecard announced on 22 June 2020 that financial data for the previous years might be incorrect.[83] According to a report by the Süddeutsche Zeitung, the public prosecutor's office assumes that the company has manipulated balance sheets since 2014.[84]
List of subsidiaries
Wirecard is a global company founded in 1999, which operates across all continents worldwide since 2017.
Wirecard Card Solutions Ltd. (WDCS) is a wholly owned subsidiary headquartered in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, with an e-money licence which allows it to issue virtual cards. It provided numerous mobile payment applications and Wirecard's own mobile payment app, Boon.
It entered the U.S. market in 2017 following completion of the takeover of Citi Prepaid Services.[85] Wirecard took over the Brazilian company MOIP in 2016.[86] The previous year, in 2015, it entered the Indian market with the acquisition of the Great Indian Retail Group's payment business. Wirecard has been strengthening its operations in the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East and Africa since 2014.[87][88][88][89][62]
See below a list of some Wirecard subsidiaries (not complete):
Subsidiary company | City | Country |
---|---|---|
Wirecard Bank AG | Aschheim | Germany |
Wirecard Technologies GmbH | Aschheim | Germany |
Wirecard Acceptance Technologies GmbH | Aschheim | Germany |
Wirecard Retail Services GmbH | Aschheim | Germany |
Wirecard Global Sales GmbH | Aschheim | Germany |
Wirecard Communication Services GmbH | Leipzig | Germany |
Wirecard Technologies Indonesia | Jakarta | Indonesia |
Wirecard Card Solutions Ltd | Newcastle upon Tyne | United Kingdom |
Wirecard Central Eastern Europe GmbH | Graz | Austria |
Wirecard S.A. | Bucharest | Romania |
Wirecard Ödeme ve Elektronik Para Hizmetleri A.Ş. | Istanbul | Turkey |
Wirecard Processing FZ LLC | Dubai | United Arab Emirates |
Wirecard Singapore Pte Ltd | Singapore | Singapore |
Wirecard Payment Solutions Malaysia Sdn Bhd | Kuala Lumpur | Malaysia |
Wirecard India Private Ltd | Chennai | India |
Wirecard NZ Limited | Auckland | New Zealand |
Wirecard Hong Kong Limited | Hong Kong | Hong Kong SAR |
Wirecard Africa Holdings Proprietary Ltd | Cape Town | South Africa |
Wirecard Brasil S.A. | São Paulo | Brazil |
Wirecard North America Inc. | Conshohocken | USA |
Wirecard UK and Ireland | Dublin | Ireland |
Wirecard Australia A&I Pty Ltd | Melbourne | Australia |
References
- Storbeck, Olaf; McCrum, Dan; Palma, Stefania (22 June 2020). "Wirecard fights for survival as it admits scale of fraud". Financial Times. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
- "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.
- "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.
- Dohms, Heinz-Roger (23 February 2017). "Die ganz spezielle Geschichte Wirecards". manager magazin (in German). Retrieved 25 June 2020.
- "Verbindung gekappt". manger magazin. 19 September 2001. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
- "Börse unterliegt im Streit um "Penny-Stock"-Regeln". Handelsblatt. 23 April 2002. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
- "Börsengang der Wire Card AG". PRESSEBOX. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
- Vogel, Hannes (18 February 2019). "Warum fährt die Wirecard-Aktie Achterbahn?". ntv. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
- Dörner, Astrid; Kokologiannis, Georgios; Kröner, Andreas (5 September 2018). "Commerzbank fliegt aus dem Dax, Wirecard steigt auf". Handelsblatt. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
- Rae, Samuel (24 May 2017). "Here's why Wirecard AG makes for an attractive exposure to growth in the Payments Processing Space". Seeking Alpha. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
- Sternkopf, Matthias; Jäger, Moritz (17 June 2008). "Aktuelle Bezahlverfahren im Internet" [Current payment methods on the Internet]. Computerwoche (in German). International Data Group. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
- "Geschäftsbericht 2009" [Annual Report 2009] (PDF). Wirecard Investor Relations (in German). Wirecard AG. 20 April 2010. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
- "Wirecard stellt innovative Bezahllösungen für den Omnichannel-Handel vor" [Wirecard presents innovative payment solutions for omnichannel retail]. IT Finanzmagazin (in German). 9 October 2018. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
- "Wirecard: Brisante Neuigkeiten aus Neuseeland – 2 Manager weg" [Wirecard: explosive news from New Zealand – two managers away]. IT Times (in German). Gesellschaft für Neue Medien mbH. 14 March 2019. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
- Osborne Clarke (8 December 2014). "Wirecard expandiert nach Südafrika" [Wirecard expands to South Africa]. Legal Tribune Online (in German). Wolters Kluwer. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
- Osborne Clarke (5 September 2014). "Wirecard expandiert in die Türkei" [Wirecard expands to Turkey]. Legal Tribune Online (in German). Wolters Kluwer. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
- Schnell, Christian (14 May 2019). "Ein Schritt hin zur Normalität: Wirecard zeigt technische Neuerungen" [A step towards normality: Wirecard shows technical innovations]. Handelsblatt (in German). Verlagsgruppe Handelsblatt. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
- "Wirecard: Online-Bezahldienste-Anbieter expandiert in Brasilien mit Akquisition" [Wirecard: Online payment service provider expands in Brazil with acquisition]. IT Times (in German). Gesellschaft für Neue Medien mbH. 22 February 2016. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
- "Wirecard holt Softbank als neuen Investor an Bord" [Wirecard brings Softbank on board as a new investor]. Internet World Business (in German). 24 April 2019. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
- Adinarayan, Thyagaraju; Mason, Josephine; Alkousaa, Riham; Seythal, Thomas. "SoftBank-backed German payments giant Wirecard denies wrongdoing after report into its accounting practices". Reuters. Retrieved 29 April 2020 – via Business Insider.
- Holtermann, Felix (5 November 2019). "Wirecard gibt Markteintritt in China bekannt" [Wirecard announces market entry in China]. Handelsblatt (in German). Verlagsgruppe Handelsblatt. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
- "Subscribe to read | Financial Times". www.ft.com. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
- hermesauto (23 January 2020). "Wirecard to beef up management amid fraud allegations; CEO to stay". The Straits Times. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
- McCrum, Dan; Storbeck, Olaf. "Wirecard says €1.9bn of cash is missing". Financial Times. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
- Davies, Paul J. (19 June 2020). "Wirecard CEO Resigns After Banks Say Missing $2 Billion Doesn't Exist". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
- "Wirecard says missing €1.9bn may not exist". BBC News. 22 June 2020. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
- "Wirecard's €1.9bn never entered Philippine financial system, bank governor says". Financial Times. 21 June 2020. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
- "Wirecard AG Credit Rating". Retrieved 25 June 2020.
- "Former Wirecard CEO Markus Braun arrested". Deutsche Welle. 23 June 2020. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
- Dan McCrum, Olaf Storbeck, Stefania Palma, John Reed in Bangkok (25 June 2020). "Wirecard collapses into insolvency". Financial Times. Retrieved 26 June 2020.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
- "Wirecard to resume operations in the UK after regulators lift restrictions". CNBC. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
- "Your Wirecard E-Cash Was Safe Until It Wasn't". 4 July 2020. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
- "Hauptversammlung 2019" (PDF). Wirecard. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
- "Allianz and Visa launch mobile payment and loyalty app". Finextra. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
- "Qatar Airways, Wirecard team on Alipay acceptance in Middle East and Africa". PaymentsSource. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
- "Half-Year Financial Report 2019- Wirecard AG: Continued Strong Growth". Markets Insider. Retrieved 27 September 2019.
- "Wirecard Introduces a new Payment App". onlinebankenverzeichnis.de. 2 February 2020. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
- "Boon bringt Apple Pay für alle". inside-tech.ch. 7 February 2017. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
- "Wirecard startet Mobile Payment App boon mit Apple Pay in Spanien". IT TIMES. 6 July 2017. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
- Tobin, Anna. "Apple Pay Continues European Rollout With German Launch". Forbes. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
- "Google Pay goes live in France • NFC World". NFC World. 11 December 2018. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
- Lochner, Mario (12 October 2016). "Wirecard: Wenn Bezahlen sexy wird". FOCUS Online. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
- "boon neu mit P2P: Geld zwischen zwei Freunden in Echtzeit schicken". TOPNEWS. 29 January 2018. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
- Dohms, Heinz-Roger (26 October 2015). "Spätzünder aus Aschheim". Süddeutsche Zeitung. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
- "Geldanlage-Report-Kolumne: Die 4 Top-Aktien 2008! – Teil 3". finanzen.net. 19 December 2007. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
- "TUI Leisure Travel lagert Zahlungsprozesse ihrer neuen Vertriebsplattform an Wirecard aus". APA-OTS. 21 May 2007. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
- Schmid, Bernd (28 May 2015). "Die eine deutsche Aktie, um in die Payment Revolution zu investieren". The Motley Fool. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
- "SCP, Supplier and Commission Payments". www.wirecard.com. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
- Sword, Alex. "T-Systems and Wirecard target retailers with IoT-enabled shelf". www.mobileeurope.co.uk. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
- "Wie Wirecard und WMF die Einzelhandels-Problematik lösen wollen". IT Times. 28 October 2016. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
- "French department store offers Alipay mobile payments • NFC World". NFC World. 9 November 2016. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
- "The Body Shop To Launch Alipay Mobile Wallet In Three London Stores | PYMNTS.com". www.pymnts.com. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
- "Wirecard Inks Deal With NBG To Integrate AliPay | PYMNTS.com". www.pymnts.com. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
- Sommer, Ulf (14 August 2018). "Wirecard ist erstmals mehr wert als die Deutsche Bank". Handelsblatt. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
- Kharpal, Arjun (10 July 2017). "Tencent launches WeChat Pay in Europe to challenge Alibaba's Alipay". Retrieved 18 July 2017.
- "Atom Bank is raising £100 million and getting into mortgages". Business Insider. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
- "More than 3,000 companies have signed up to hot fintech Revolut's new business service". Business Insider. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
- "Britain is getting MORE banking app startups – can they all survive?". Business Insider. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
- "Millennial banking startup Loot raised another £2.5 million". Business Insider. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
- McCrum, Dan (27 April 2015). "The House of Wirecard". FT Alphaville. Archived from the original on 24 February 2016. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
- McCrum, Dan. "Executive at Wirecard suspected of using forged contracts". Financial Times. Retrieved 30 January 2019.
- Comfort, Nicholas. "Wirecard Slumps After Report on Executive Suspected of Fraud". finance.yahoo.com. Retrieved 30 January 2019.
- "FT over reports alleging accounting fraud". Reuters. 8 February 2019. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
- "Wirecard dementiert FT-Bericht über Durchsuchung und reicht Anzeige ein – Aktie fällt erneut". finanzen.ch. 8 February 2019. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
- Fall Wirecard: Staatsanwaltschaft ermittelt gegen einen Financial-Times-Journalisten. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 18. Februar 2019.
- "Deutsche Aufsicht schützt Dax-Konzern vor Spekulanten". sueddeutsche.de. 8 February 2019. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
- McCrum, Dan (15 October 2019). "Wirecard's suspect accounting practices revealed". Financial Times.
- "KPMG audit finds no manipulation in Wirecard's financial statements". Reuters. 12 March 2020. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
- "Wirecard shares crash 26% after critical KPMG audit". Reuters. 12 March 2020. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
- Storbeck, Olaf; McCrum, Dan (5 June 2020). "Wirecard offices searched as prosecutors probe management board". Financial Times.
- "Wirecard AG: Date for publication of annual and consolidated financial statements 2019 delayed due to indications of presentation of spurious balance confirmations" (Press release). DGAP. 18 June 2020. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
- Carrick, Angharad (29 June 2020). "Deutsche Boerse looks at revising Dax membership rules after Wirecard scandal". Citi A.M. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
- Browne, Ryan (19 June 2020). "Wirecard CEO Markus Braun resigns as accounting scandal batters shares". CNBC.
- Kowsmann, Patricia; Bender, Ruth; Davies, Paul (23 June 2020). "Wirecard's Former CEO Markus Braun Is Arrested". The Wall Street Journal.
- Murphy, Paul (9 June 2020). "Toronto's Citizen Lab uncovers massive hackers-for-hire organization 'Dark Basin' that has targeted hundreds of institutions on six continents". Financial Post. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
- "Dark Basin: Uncovering a Massive Hack-For-Hire Operation". The Citizen Lab. 9 June 2020. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
- "U.S. Investigating Hacker Ring Paid to Target Corporate Critics". www.msn.com. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
- "Wirecard Bilanz, Gewinn und Umsatz | Wirecard Geschäftsbericht | 747206". wallstreet-online.de. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
- "Wirecard AG: Statement of the Management Board about the current situation of the Company". Wirecard Investor Relations. Wirecard. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
- "Wirecard soll seit 2014 betrogen haben". Süddeutsche Zeitung. 2 June 2020. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
- "Wirecard completes Citi Prepaid acquisition » Banking Technology". www.bankingtech.com. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
- "Wirecard buys Brazilian online payments firm for 23.5 million euros". Reuters. 22 February 2016. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
- "Wirecard AG announces its market entry into North America by the acquisition of Citi Prepaid Card Services". www.wirecard.com. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
- "Wirecard acquires Brazilian online payment service provider". www.wirecard.com. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
- "Wirecard acquires payments business of Great Indian (GI) Retail Group". www.wirecard.com. Retrieved 17 July 2017.