Wirecard Catches A $2B Break From Lenders On Loan Repayment

After a week of bad news, the embattled Wirecard AG caught a break from lenders that provided 1.75 billion euros ($2 billion) in credit to the German payment services company, sources told Bloomberg News.

The banks said they will determine the troubled company’s long-term viability before requiring Wirecard to repay the debt.

FTI Consulting, the Washington, D.C.-based financial consulting firm, is monitoring whether Wirecard has met the loan terms, and lenders are reviewing documents and talking with Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. to determine the best way to get the loan repaid, based on anonymous sources familiar with the negotiations.

As many as 15 lenders are assessing the extent of potential losses, including ABN Amro Bank NV, Commerzbank AG and ING Groep NV, who have loaned Wirecard 1.6 billion euros ($1.8 million) in credit out of the total facility, Bloomberg reported. 

If there is an agreement, it is expected that it will only be a short period before lenders make a final decision.

As PYMNTS has chronicled, the saga began last week when Wirecard Founder and CEO Markus Braun resigned after auditors revealed that 1.9 billion euros ($2.1 billion) were missing from the German payment processor’s accounts in the Philippines.

Ernst & Young, the auditor, said it was suspicious of letters confirming the existence of the accounts and the amounts held in two Philippine banks. The banks confirmed the letters were fakes.

“The management board of Wirecard assesses on the basis of further examination that there is a prevailing likelihood that the bank trust account balances in the amount of 1.9 billion euro do not exist,” the company said in a statement within hours.

As a result, the firm said it will withdraw its 2019 and first-quarter 2020 financial results.

On Monday night (June 22), Braun was arrested. The 50-year-old executive faces charges of accounting fraud and market manipulation designed to artificially inflate the FinTech’s balance sheet.

Following Braun’s arrest, German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said lawmakers must tighten regulations because the payment services company has embarrassed the nation’s financial watchdog.