Wirecard Ordered to Cease Activities in Singapore

The ability of its Singapore entities to continue providing payment services here has been affected, following its parent company’s insolvency filing in Germany.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has ordered Wirecard Singapore to cease payment services in the country and to return all customers’ funds by 14 October 2020, the regulator said in an announcement on Wednesday.

As a result, Credit card payments at merchants using Wirecard Singapore’s services, as well as usage of pre-paid cards issued by Wirecard Singapore, will be affected, and customers are advised to look for alternative service providers.

MAS has assessed that it is in the interest of the public for Wirecard SG to cease its payments services and promptly return all customers’ funds. This provides the greatest certainty to customers on their appropriate course of action, including seeking alternative service providers, the announcement said.

The firm is at the center of one of the region’s biggest corporate accounting scandals in recent years, having admitted that €1.9 billion is missing from its financial accounts. The firm’s CEO Markus Braun as well as other top executives have been arrested, while former operating chief Jan Marsalek remains missing.

The collapsed German fintech’s sacked operating chief went to an extreme – and adventurous – lengths to bamboozle auditors, according to a German report.

So far, one Singaporean has been indicted – a director of a local accounting firm that allegedly helped Wirecard falsify letters about the funds held in its escrow accounts.