Wirecard
German payments company based near Munich, once in the DAX 30
- Entries
- 11
- On the record
- 6
- Stories
- 1
- Latest entry
- Jan 6, 2026
The record
Wirecard was launched in 1999 in a suburb of Munich, processing online card payments before expanding into banking and card issuing, the BBC reported. It listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange by 2005, and in September 2018 Deutsche Börse announced it would replace Commerzbank in the DAX 30. At its peak its shares reached €140 and the company was valued at €24 billion.
Its collapse came in June 2020. Chief executive Markus Braun resigned on June 19 with immediate effect, and the Philippine bank BDO said a document claiming Wirecard held an account there was manipulated, with forged signatures. Wirecard's supervisory board terminated Braun's employment contract on June 30. Munich prosecutors later said banks had extended €1.7 billion in credit and €1.4 billion in bonds were unlikely to be repaid.
Courts in two countries have since ruled on parts of the case. In Singapore, a corporate services director and a British businessman were convicted in September 2025 over letters falsely telling Wirecard and its auditors that more than €1.1 billion sat in escrow, and were sentenced in January 2026; both said they would appeal. The Munich trial of Braun and two former managers opened in December 2022.
Roles and honours on the record
Every entry, newest first
- Ruled
The Local Court of Munich opened insolvency proceedings and appointed Michael Jaffé as insolvency administrator. Wirecard admits €1.9B likely didn't exist; Braun denies fraud
- Filed
Wirecard applied for insolvency at a Munich court, citing impending insolvency and over-indebtedness, the BBC reported. Wirecard admits €1.9B likely didn't exist; Braun denies fraud
- Reported
Wirecard disclosed that EY could not obtain sufficient audit evidence for EUR 1.9 billion in trust account cash. Wirecard admits €1.9B likely didn't exist; Braun denies fraud
Stories in this file
The record, entry by entry
- 2018-09-05 Official Deutsche Börse announced that Wirecard would replace Commerzbank in the DAX 30, after a share price rise of 110 percent that year. Deutsche Welle report
- 2020-06-19 Official Wirecard said chief executive Markus Braun had resigned with immediate effect, a day after EY declined to certify its annual accounts; James Freis, appointed to the board the evening before, became interim CEO. Der Spiegel report (German)
- 2020-06-19 Reported BDO Unibank in the Philippines said Wirecard was not its customer and that the document asserting a Wirecard trust account at BDO was manipulated, with forged signatures of bank officials. Der Spiegel report (German)
- 2020-06-30 Official Wirecard's supervisory board terminated Braun's employment contract with immediate effect for cause; he had left the management board on June 19 by agreement. Wirecard AG announcement (German)
- 2022-03-14 Filed Munich prosecutors charged Braun and two other former managers in a 474-page indictment with market manipulation, embezzlement and commercial gang fraud, saying banks had provided €1.7 billion in credit and bonds worth €1.4 billion were unlikely to be repaid. Al Jazeera report
- 2022-12-08 Filed The trial of Braun, former Dubai unit head Oliver Bellenhaus and former accounting chief Stephan von Erffa opened in a high-security courtroom at Stadelheim prison in Munich. Braun denies any wrongdoing. BBC News report
- 2025-09-22 Ruled A Singapore court convicted R Shanmugaratnam, director of Citadelle Corporate Services, of falsifying 13 confirmation letters issued from March 2016 to April 2018 that told Wirecard and its auditors Citadelle held over €1.1 billion of Wirecard funds in escrow, and convicted British national James Henry O'Sullivan of abetting five of them. Singapore Police Force news release
- 2026-01-06 Ruled Shanmugaratnam was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment and O'Sullivan to 6.5 years. Both indicated they would appeal their convictions and sentences. Singapore Police Force news release