According to Bloomberg, Deutsche Bank has no intention to buy Wirecard’s banking branch. The price of EUR 100 million would be far too high. That is the minimum amount that Wirecard-curator Michael Jaffe wanted for the sale of the assets in order to avoid liquidation, according to the sources.
Last week, a bid by Deutsche Bank for Wirecard parts was refused because it would have been too low. A spokesman for Deutsche Bank did not want to go into the matter further, but said that the purchase of Wirecard Bank could only be one of several options with which the bank hopes to increase its payment activities.
Deutsche Bank’s boss, Christian Sewing, has said that he will only buy Wirecard Bank if the payment system is better than that of his own bank. Recently, Deutsche Bank hired a former director of Wirecard, as did a trits of other payment technology experts.
In June, it was announced that nearly EUR 2 billion had been lost in Wirecard’s balance sheet and that this amount might not have existed. In addition, the payment service provider was in debt of EUR 3.5 billion. This is one of the greatest cases of fraud in modern German history. Former chief executive, Mark Braun and the other former directors of the Wirecard have been arrested on suspicion of money-laundering, accounting fraud and corruption. The German parliament wants a parliamentary inquiry into the matter.
Maurice Esma, a co-founder of EconomicInform is a freelance journalist with the expertise in international finance and corporate rights. The author can be reached by email maurice.eisma@economicinform.com
