Company profile
- Industry
- Payment processing / Financial services
- Founded
- 1999
- Headquarters
- Aschheim, Germany
- Ownership
- Insolvent; filed for insolvency in 2020
Profiles are auto-generated and infrequently updated.
The analyses
The Counterfactual · Decision Forks
Germany Filed Wirecard Under Tech, So BaFin Could Watch Only the Bank Inside
BaFin is blamed for sleeping through a €1.9 billion fraud. The truth is sharper: Germany classified Wirecard as a tech company, so its regulator was legally empowered to watch only the small bank inside — and spent its energy banning the short-sellers instead.
8 min
The Crisis Response · Crisis & Reinvention
Wirecard Attacked the Truth-Tellers and Bought Itself Five Years
Wirecard's 'crisis response' bought it five years — by attacking the truth-tellers instead of the truth. BaFin banned short-selling and filed complaints against the journalists. The €1.9 billion 'probably does not exist.'
8 min
The Fall · Decision Forks
Wirecard's Masterstroke Was Picking a Regulator Powerless to Ask Where the Money Was
On 22 June 2020 Wirecard admitted €1.9 billion probably never existed. But a shareholder group flagged the books in 2008 and the FT in 2015. The fraud's real genius wasn't hiding money — it was finding a regulator with no authority to ask where it was.
8 min