Wirecard

What Wirecard does

Wirecard AG was a German payment services and financial-commerce platform that processed acquiring, issuing, transaction-banking, and value-added payment services for merchants, banks, and large corporates across global markets. The company operated an integrated B2B2C digital platform spanning four solution pillars — Payment & Risk, Retail & Transaction Banking, Loyalty & Couponing, and Data Analytics & Conversion Rate Enhancement — delivered across online, mobile, and ePOS channels. The stack was anchored by regulated financial institutions including Wirecard Bank AG (Germany) and Wirecard Card Solutions Ltd (UK) and supported by card-network certifications from all major schemes. Geographically, Wirecard served customers across DACH, the UK, Southeast Asia (Singapore, Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong), India, Turkey, Romania, Brazil, the US, South Africa, and Australia, with notable concentration of bank-clients in emerging markets where its PrimeCash transaction-banking software was deployed (including all major banks in Romania and major Vietnamese state banks).

Wirecard's business model combined transaction fees on payment processing and acquiring, recurring software and licensing revenue (e.g., PrimeCash), and card-issuing and value-added services including loyalty, FX, and remittance. The company monetized through enterprise-negotiated, transaction-fee-based contracts with merchants, banks, and financial institutions, and through B2B2C distribution to consumer end-users via prepaid cards and remittance products. The Third-Party Acquiring (TPA) business, in which Wirecard processed transactions on behalf of partner banks and financial institutions, was central to the platform and ultimately the locus of the accounting fraud.

In June 2020, Wirecard collapsed after auditor EY refused to sign off on 2019 accounts, citing an inability to obtain sufficient audit evidence for €1.9 billion in trust account balances that were ultimately found to be non-existent — Europe's largest post-war accounting fraud. CEO Markus Braun resigned on June 19, 2020, and the company filed for insolvency on June 25, 2020, with formal proceedings opened by the Munich Local Court on August 25, 2020 and Dr. jur. Michael Jaffé appointed as insolvency administrator. Today, the Wirecard AG legal entity exists solely for administration of the insolvency estate; the core European business was sold to Banco Santander's Getnet in January 2021, and all material operating subsidiaries have been divested to acquirers including PagSeguro (Brazil), SIBS (Romania), Syncapay (North America), Adumo (South Africa), BC Card (Vietnam), Nium (India), Unzer (Retail Services / PoS), and NomuPay/Finch Capital (Turkey, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand). The wirecard.com website is now an information portal operated by the insolvency administrator.

Name

Wirecard

Legal name

Wirecard AG (under administration)

Website

https://wirecard.com

Company type

Public

Founded year

1999

Operating status

Closed

Headcount range

5,001–10,000 employees

Short description

Wirecard AG, now in insolvency administration, was a German digital payments platform that provided acquiring, issuing, and transaction-banking services to merchants, banks, and large corporates globally before collapsing in June 2020 due to Europe's largest accounting fraud.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Payment Processing & Financial Technology

NAICS

Credit Card Issuing (52221), Credit Card Issuing (522210), Sales Financing (52222), Sales Financing (522220)

SIC

Security Brokers, Dealers & Flotation Companies (6211)

akta.pro primary industry

Corporate Cards & Expense Solutions (T&E, purchasing, fleet) (FSABAIAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Embedded Deposit Accounts & Digital Wallet Infrastructure (FSAGALAE), Cross-Border B2B2C Payouts (Mass Payouts, Gig/Creator, Marketplace) (FSAGAKAC)

Keywords

• Digital payment processing
• Merchant acquiring services
• Card issuing platform
• Transaction banking software
• Payment processing services

Headquarters

HQ city

Munich

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices5 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Payment processing and acquiring transaction fees: Revenue generated by processing third-party acquiring and merchant acquiring transactions on behalf of financial institutions and merchants across online and offline channels.
2. Card issuing and value-added financial services: Revenue from issuing prepaid, compensation, disbursement, consumer incentive and refund cards (e.g., Wirecard North America) and from related value-added services such as loyalty, couponing and data analytics.
3. Software, banking-as-a-service and transaction-banking solutions: Revenue from licensing and operating transaction-banking software (e.g., PrimeCash) and providing back-end software to front-end hardware payment solutions for financial institutions (e.g., in Vietnam, Indonesia).
4. Foreign exchange, remittance and money services: Revenue from foreign currency exchange, pre-paid card issuance and remittance services, as operated by Wirecard Forex India Private Limited (RBI Authorized Category II Money Exchange Dealer).

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Wirecard historically operated a global B2B2C digital financial commerce platform providing payment acceptance (acquiring), card issuing, retail and transaction banking, loyalty/couponing, and data analytics across online, mobile, and electronic point-of-sale (ePOS) channels. The platform integrated four solution pillars (Payment & Risk, Retail & Transaction Banking, Loyalty & Couponing, and Data Analytics & Conversion Rate Enhancement), was supported by regulated financial institutions in key markets, and held licenses from all major card networks. Following the 2020 accounting fraud and insolvency filing, the operating business has been wound down and the current website is solely an insolvency-information portal.

Product overview

Wirecard AG is a German fintech that historically operated a global B2B2C platform-plus-modules architecture for Financial Commerce. The core platform was the Wirecard Financial Commerce Platform (described in the company profile as covering Payment & Risk, Retail & Transaction Banking, Loyalty & Couponing, and Data Analytics & Conversion Rate Enhancement across Online, Mobile and ePOS channels), which sat on top of Wirecard's regulated financial institutions — most importantly Wirecard Bank AG, Wirecard Card Solutions Ltd (UK) and Wirecard Acquiring & Issuing GmbH — and combined three core revenue lines: the Acquiring & Issuing business (with issuing, including the UK prepaid-card programme), the Third Party Acquiring (TPA) business, and the Merchant Cash Advance (MCA) / Digital Lending product. Regional sales-and-services subsidiaries (Wirecard North America, Wirecard Brazil, Wirecard Romania, Wirecard Solutions South Africa, Wirecard Ödeme Ve Elektronik Para Hizmetleri (Turkey), Wirecard Forex India, Wirecard Vietnam, and the Asia-Pacific cluster of Hong Kong / Malaysia / Philippines / Thailand / Australia / Indonesia entities) wrapped around the platform. The TPA line in particular became the centre of the €1.9 billion accounting fraud that emerged in June 2020. Following the insolvency filing, the live payment products have been wound down and the various subsidiaries and core technology assets divested in stages: most of the Asian, Romanian, Turkish, South African, Indian, Vietnamese, Brazilian and North American entities were sold to buyers including PagSeguro, SIBS, Adumo RF, BC Card, Nium and Syncapay, while the Wirecard core technology assets and platform were sold to Banco Santander (closing in early 2021), the UK prepaid-card entity was wound down under FCA supervision, and the German Point-of-Sale business was transferred to Heidelberger Payment / Unzer. Today, wirecard.com is no longer a payment product: it is an information portal operated by the insolvency administrator Dr. Michael Jaffé, providing court orders, press releases, bondholder information and statutory capital-market disclosures to creditors.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Wirecard Financial Commerce Platform (B2B2C ecosystem) Historical globally distributed digital platform for Financial Commerce delivering integrated real-time value-added services around digital payment processing via a B2B2C approach across Online, Mobile and ePOS channels.
• Acquiring & Issuing Business Historical core business combining merchant acquiring (processing card-not-present and card-present payments) and card issuing (prepaid, debit and credit cards to consumers and partners), operated through licensed entities including Wirecard Bank AG and Wirecard Card Solutions Ltd.
• PrimeCash Transaction-Banking Software Award-winning digital transaction-banking software platform enabling banks to provide corporate and private clients with payment flow management.
• Wirecard Retail Services (Point-of-Sale Business) German point-of-sale payments subsidiary serving over 3,600 customers with approximately 7,000 card payment (PoS) terminals, primarily in the German retail sector.
• Wirecard AG Corporate / Insolvency Information Portal (wirecard.com) Current wirecard.com website operated by insolvency administrator Dr. jur. Michael Jaffé as a statutory creditor-information portal publishing court orders, press releases, bondholder information, share-buyback archives and mandatory capital-market disclosures. No live payment or banking services are offered from the portal.
• Wirecard North America Inc. Historical North American payment-processing entity, including authorized payment institution licenses and prepaid card services.

Quantifiable outcome

• Provisional 2019 revenue of €2.8bn (+38% YoY) and EBITDA of €785m (+40% YoY) (later withdrawn).
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

15 partnerships are on record, tiered core acquirer of wirecard forex india, core acquirer of wirecard vietnam, flagship acquirer of multiple wirecard subsidiaries across asia and europe, flagship / core acquirer of wirecard's european core business, core acquirer of wirecard south africa, core acquirer of wirecard north america, core acquirer of wirecard retail services gmbh, core acquirer of wirecard romania, core acquirer of wirecard brazil, minor acquirer of uk wirecard card solutions assets, core independent special auditor of wirecard in early 2020, core statutory auditor of wirecard ag, flagship insolvency administrator for wirecard ag and subsidiaries, core insolvency administrator of wirecard retail services gmbh and major — regional successor built on wirecard licenses.

• NIUM Pte. Ltd.core acquirer of wirecard forex indiaChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 8 July 2021NIUM, a global cross-border payments and card-issuance specialist based in Singapore, acquired Wirecard Forex India Private Limited — a Reserve Bank of India Authorized Category II Money Exchange Dealer with nearly 190 staff providing FX, prepaid card and remittance services.
• BC Card Co., Ltd.core acquirer of wirecard vietnamChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 29 April 2021South Korean credit card company BC Card acquired Wirecard (Vietnam) Company Limited from Wirecard Singapore Pte. Ltd., a market-leading provider of payment service solutions in Vietnam serving major state banks and financial institutions.
• NomuPay (Finch Capital)flagship acquirer of multiple wirecard subsidiaries across asia and europeChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 30 March 2021Finch Capital, via a new Irish company NomuPay, agreed to acquire Wirecard Ödeme Ve Elektronik Para Hizmetleri (Wirecard Turkey) in March 2021, and subsequently acquired Wirecard's Asia-Pacific subsidiaries including Wirecard e-Money Philippines, Wirecard Payment Solutions Malaysia, Wirecard (Thailand), Wirecard Payment Solutions Hong Kong, plus assets and licenses of the Wirecard Asia Holding and Wirecard Singapore data warehouses. NomuPay has since raised $37m Series B at a $200m valuation to expand cross-border payment rails in Asia and the Middle East built on the Wirecard regional licenses.
• Banco Santander (Getnet)flagship / core acquirer of wirecard's european core businessChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 28 January 2021Banco Santander acquired Wirecard's European technology platform and core acquiring/issuing business via the insolvency process, with around 500 employees transferring to its Getnet global merchant services franchise. The deal was signed in mid-November 2020 and closed on January 28, 2021. Santander also acquired most of the remaining Wirecard Bank AG staff, which entered a solvent wind-down after the transaction.
• Adumo RF Pty Ltdcore acquirer of wirecard south africaChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 17 December 2020Adumo RF, South Africa's largest independent payment service provider, acquired Wirecard Solutions South Africa (Pty) Ltd and Wirecard Payment Services Namibia (Pty) Ltd from Wirecard Technologies GmbH as part of the insolvency asset disposals.
• Syncapay, Inc.core acquirer of wirecard north americaChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 22 October 2020Syncapay (a US holding company focused on high-potential payment solutions, backed by Centerbridge Partners, Bain Capital Ventures, Silversmith Capital Partners, MissionOG and NYCA) acquired Wirecard North America Inc., a market leader in US prepaid card issuing, from Wirecard Acquiring & Issuing GmbH.
• Unzer POS GmbHcore acquirer of wirecard retail services gmbhChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 19 October 2020Unzer POS GmbH (formerly heidelpay, a German payment services platform founded in 2003) acquired the business operations of Wirecard Retail Services GmbH and its approximately 20 staff at the Aschheim site, taking over 3,600+ customers and ~7,000 PoS terminals.
• SIBScore acquirer of wirecard romaniaChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 28 September 2020SIBS, a leading European payment service provider headquartered in Portugal, acquired Wirecard Romania SA (including Romcard and Supercard Solutions & Services) to expand into the Romanian market and strengthen its Eastern European footprint.
• PagSeguro Digital Ltd.core acquirer of wirecard brazilChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 21 August 2020PagSeguro (NYSE-listed) acquired 100% of Wirecard Brazil S.A. through a subsidiary as the first Wirecard insolvency asset sale, subject to Brazilian regulatory approval.
• Railsbank Technology Limitedminor acquirer of uk wirecard card solutions assetsChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 21 August 2020Railsbank reached a framework agreement with Wirecard Card Solutions Ltd. (UK) to acquire certain customer relationships and additional assets in the prepaid card and electronic payments business.
• KPMG AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaftcore independent special auditor of wirecard in early 2020Implementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerKPMG conducted a special audit of Wirecard's business activities in India and Singapore and of the Merchant Cash Advance (MCA) / Digital Lending segment; in March 2020 it reported no substantial findings requiring restatement of 2016–2018 financials in those areas, while the TPA investigation continued. The KPMG special audit ultimately exposed the missing €1.9bn and triggered Wirecard's collapse.
• Ernst & Young (EY) GmbH Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaftcore statutory auditor of wirecard agImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerEY was Wirecard AG's statutory auditor; in June 2020 it refused to sign off on the 2019 annual and consolidated accounts because it could not obtain sufficient audit evidence for €1.9bn in trust-account balances, prompting Wirecard's collapse.
• JAFFÉ Rechtsanwälte Insolvenzverwalter (Dr. jur. Michael Jaffé)flagship insolvency administrator for wirecard ag and subsidiariesImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerDr. jur. Michael Jaffé of JAFFÉ Rechtsanwälte Insolvenzverwalter was appointed as preliminary and then full insolvency administrator of Wirecard AG and six German subsidiaries (Wirecard Technologies GmbH, Wirecard Issuing Technologies GmbH, Wirecard Service Technologies GmbH, Wirecard Acceptance Technologies GmbH, Wirecard Sales International Holding GmbH, Wirecard Global Sales GmbH), and led the disposal of the core and international businesses.
• JAFFÉ Rechtsanwälte Insolvenzverwalter (Dr. jur. Philip Heinke)core insolvency administrator of wirecard retail services gmbhImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerDr. jur. Philip Heinke of JAFFÉ Rechtsanwälte Insolvenzverwalter was appointed insolvency administrator of Wirecard Retail Services GmbH and led the sale of the PoS terminal business to Unzer POS GmbH.
• NomuPay (successor entity)major — regional successor built on wirecard licensesStrategic or Co-development PartnerNomuPay, a Dublin-based startup formed from Wirecard's regional payment licenses, raised $37m in Series B at a $200m valuation to build cross-border payment rails in underserved Asian and Middle Eastern markets, inheriting Wirecard's regional acquiring, issuing and e-money licenses.

Scale indicators15 records

Recent moves19 records

Expansion highlights2 records

Direct peers

• Adyen: Dutch global payment processor offering unified acquiring, issuing and processing across online, mobile and POS. Most direct comparable to Wirecard's historical integrated B2B2C acquiring/issuing platform in Europe.
• Worldline: European-headquartered payment processor and merchant acquirer with a multi-country licensed footprint comparable to Wirecard's DACH and EMEA reach. Both companies serve merchants, banks and large corporates with acquiring, issuing and value-added services.
• Nexi: Italian/European payments group providing acquiring, card issuing and digital banking software to banks and merchants. Closely comparable to Wirecard in merchant acquiring, bank-software and integrated payments across Europe.
• Nuvei: Global payment technology provider with strong acquiring, issuing and FX/risk capabilities, particularly across emerging markets. Direct peer to Wirecard's emerging-market-heavy strategy and value-added services around cross-border transactions.
• PagSeguro: Brazilian/LATAM payment processor that was a direct regional peer to Wirecard Brazil and ultimately acquired the Wirecard Brazil S.A. subsidiary in 2020. Highly comparable in business model (multi-channel acquiring, POS, e-commerce).
• StoneCo: Brazilian payment processor focused on SMB merchants and POS, with growth into online and banking-as-a-service. Comparable to Wirecard's LATAM and SMB-merchant segments.

Broad incumbents

• Stripe: Global online payment processing platform serving internet-economy merchants with acquiring, issuing and software-led products. Broader incumbent comparable to Wirecard's online-channel focus but with a software-platform, developer-led model.
• PayPal: Global digital payments incumbent with acquiring, issuing (Braintree, Venmo), and merchant services. Overlaps with Wirecard's payment & risk and B2B2C value propositions but operates at a much larger scale and consumer-brand level.

Emerging players

• NomuPay: Dublin-based payments platform (Finch Capital) that acquired Wirecard's Asia-Pacific and Turkish subsidiaries, inheriting regional acquiring, issuing and e-money licenses. Successor entity most directly comparable to Wirecard's regional business.

Others

• Banco Santander (Getnet): Global bank whose Getnet merchant-acquiring franchise acquired Wirecard's European core technology platform in 2021. Comparable in the merchant-acquiring / issuing business Wirecard historically operated, although operating as an integrated bank unit rather than a pure-play.

Market position

Strengths3 records

Weaknesses3 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/wirecard
• Facebookfacebook.com/wirecardgroup

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Subsidiaries26 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A14 records

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Wirecard