Wirecard

The scandal over the collapse of Wirecard AG expanded as German financial regulator BaFin faces a criminal probe into how it oversaw the payment processor and whether some of the agency’s staff illegally traded the stock.

In a boost to its battle with non-bank digital platforms, Spain's Banco Santander has acquired technology assets from scandal-ridden German payments processor Wirecard.

Germany has presented plans to strengthen financial regulator BaFin’s powers and tighten accounting rules, one day before the start of a parliamentary probe into one of the country’s biggest corporate failures.

Wirecard AG’s administrator is facing declining interest in the disgraced payment company’s German assets after another potential buyer followed Deutsche Bank AG’s lead and pulled out of the bidding.

The Philippines’ anti-money laundering authority has identified 57 “people of interest,” including foreigners and local bank officers and government officials, whose links to Wirecard AG are being scrutinized.

Wirecard, which is trying to sell pieces of its embattled company while rivals pick up its clients, has struck a deal to sell its U.K. division, Wirecard Card Solutions, to Railsbank, an open banking and payments technology firm.

Wirecard AG’s spectacular collapse is leaving a gaping hole in the income statements of its European banks.

Eric Grover, principal at Intrepid Ventures, talks to PaymentsSource senior editor Kate Fitzgerald about how the high-flying German fintech fell to scandal — and whether it could happen again.

German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz was aware of potential market manipulation at Wirecard AG almost a year and a half before the company collapsed, putting pressure on a key figure in Angela Merkel’s government.

The bank is expected to report a small net profit for the second quarter next week; shareholders are challenging the government's 2012 decision to appropriate nearly all of the agencies' profits.