- Business
- Wirecard AG (WDI.SW) is an insolvent German payment processor and financial services provider that offered electronic payment transaction services and risk management solutions; these included mobile payments via the Boon app supporting NFC contactless transactions, peer-to-peer transfers, and virtual Mastercard integration; e-commerce acquiring with a focus on travel and transport sectors through products like Supplier and Commission Payments (SCP) using virtual credit cards; point-of-sale (POS) systems; checkout portals for SMEs; card issuing for partners such as Revolut, Curve, and Atom Bank; alternative payment methods including Alipay and WeChat Pay; and fraud prevention suites. The company, founded in 1999 and headquartered in Aschheim near Munich, Germany, previously operated globally across Europe, Asia-Pacific (Singapore, India, China, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia), the Americas (US, Brazil), the Middle East, Africa (South Africa), and other regions including the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Turkey through subsidiaries like Wirecard Bank AG, Wirecard Card Solutions Ltd, and Wirecard Singapore Pte Ltd. It targeted merchants in high-risk sectors such as online vendors, gambling, adult entertainment, airlines like KLM and Qatar Airways, tour operators like TUI, and retailers including Allianz and Transport for London, processing transaction volumes reaching US$125 billion in 2018.
Wirecard ceased active operations following its high-profile collapse in 2020, triggered by the revelation that €1.9 billion in reported cash balances likely did not exist, leading to insolvency proceedings opened by the Local Court of Munich on August 25, 2020; the company filed for bankruptcy on June 25, 2020, amid accusations of accounting fraud, market manipulation, and money laundering involving former CEO Markus Braun (arrested and facing trial) and former COO Jan Marsalek (fugitive). Core assets were sold in late 2020 and early 2021, including the main business unit to Santander Group for €100 million in November 2020, North American operations overseen by Moelis & Company in July 2020, UK and Brazilian units to Railsbank and PagSeguro Digital respectively, and Asia-Pacific licenses (Malaysia, Hong Kong, Philippines, Thailand, Turkey) to NomuPay in 2021; approximately 730 employees—over half the workforce—were laid off in August 2020 alongside the termination of all board members. Ongoing legal developments include the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) rejecting shareholder claims for greater insolvency spoils on November 13, 2025; a July 2025 judgment enforcing a €900 million creditor claim against Wirecard; board members held liable for €140 million in damages as of January 2025; and executives convicted of fraud in Singapore's Wirecard case in September 2025.