Wirecard – Neither Means nor Powers – Economy

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For a long time, all responsible authorities in Germany looked away, now the federal government is drawing the first consequences in the billion-dollar scandal surrounding the Dax group Wirecard. The Federal Ministry of Justice and the Federal Ministry of Finance will terminate the contract with the German Accounting Office (DPR). Both ministries had agreed on this, a spokesman for the justice department confirmed a report on Sunday Picture on Sunday. The DPR, which is organized under private law, controls the balance sheets on behalf of the state and has not performed well in the case of Wirecard. The Dax group from Aschheim filed for bankruptcy last week after a hole in the balance sheet of EUR 1.9 billion had appeared. The creditors even include a subsidiary of the state-owned KfW bank with 100 million euros. At the DPR, no comment was initially available. According to the DPR, the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Bafin) had advised in February 2019 that there were inconsistencies in Wirecard’s 2018 half-year results. Several journalists, especially those of the Financial Timeshad previously pointed this out in numerous reports. However, a report from the DPR is still not available.

“We reacted immediately and arranged for an audit of the balance sheet at the DPR in mid-February 2019,” said a spokeswoman for the authority. The Bafin was not responsible for the audit, but in the first place the DPR alone. The test there took so long. In fact, the inspection agency, also known as the “balance police”, has few personnel. It is therefore unlikely that there were any inconsistencies in Wirecard’s balance sheets: in such cases, one or two experts usually check the accounts. Tracing documents back to Asia – they have no means or powers to do so. This Wednesday, Bafin boss Felix Hufeld now has to answer the questions of the Finance Committee of the Bundestag, and the EU Commission is also looking into the matter.

“The Bafin and the DPR played blind cows, while Wirecard probably created a criminal pyramid scheme,” said finance politician Fabio De Masi (Die Linke). The DPR is an alibi event. But the Bafin had “slept” despite numerous indications and could not shirk responsibility. The Greens’ Danyal Bayaz said the supervisors desperately needed professionals who had the skills. Not only 15 banks are among the victims of the collapsed payment service provider, and Wirecard borrowed a total of around EUR 1.75 billion. The KfW development bank also trusted Wirecard boss Markus Braun. Wirecard granted its privately organized subsidiary Ipex-Bank a € 100 million credit line in September 2018 and extended it in September 2019. A KfW spokesman confirmed a corresponding report by Stock exchanges newspaper. Accordingly, the line was drawn in full. No hedging transactions were made, which is why the total loss is now imminent. This is now ultimately borne by the taxpayer, since KfW and its subsidiary are a state-owned bank. It is actually KfW’s job to promote business that commercial banks do not want or cannot finance. Her daughter Ipex finances the German export industry, which is usually about showcase projects such as power plants or airports.

The line of credit to Wirecard was apparently related to the company’s “global business”. This week it should also be clear how things are going with Wirecard’s bank, which belongs to the group but has not yet filed for bankruptcy. To SZ-The Bafin is likely to issue a so-called “moratorium” in the next few days, which means that the bank, which also includes the Boon account app, can no longer make deposits and withdrawals. Then, as usual, the private banks’ deposit guarantee scheme will take control of the institution. To SZ– The private banks will then probably not send the information to the bank, but send it into bankruptcy. Wirecard Bank customers are compensated by the security scheme. According to Stock exchanges newspaper About a week before the mother filed for bankruptcy, around 590 million euros in deposits fell under the voluntary deposit guarantee scheme and 78 million euros under the statutory deposit guarantee scheme. How much of it has flowed out is not publicly known. Neither the banking association nor the Bafin wanted to comment on this.

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