Wirecard must keep customer funds from Singapore business in banks here: MAS
Singapore
BELEAGUERED payments provider Wirecard is required to keep customer funds arising from its Singapore business activities in banks here, said the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in a statement on Tuesday.
The German startup had to pull its 2019 preliminary financial results and the first quarter this year, after auditors found 1.9 billion euros (S$2.98 billion) missing from its accounts.
Wirecard's primary business activities in Singapore are to process payments for merchants and help companies issue pre-paid cards.
Its entities here are currently not licensed by MAS, but Singapore's financial regulator said that it has received a licence application from Wirecard under the new Payment Services Act.
The Payment Services Act, which regulates the provision of payment services in Singapore, came into force on 28 January 2020.
It provides for a grace period for entities conducting regulated activities to apply for the relevant licence, during which the existing businesses are allowed to carry on, said MAS.
Wirecard is one of the entities operating under this transitional exemption.
On Tuesday, former Wirecard chief executive Markus Braun was detained on suspicion of inflating the company's balance sheet and revenues. He had earlier resigned last Friday and turned himself in on Monday evening.
German prosecutors said that current investigations showed that "the conduct of the accused justifies the suspicion of inaccurate presentation concurring with market manipulation".
Wirecard on Monday admitted that the amount of 1.9 billion euros missing from its accounts likely never existed, with the German startup now considering a full scale restructuring among other options in a bid for survival.
The latest scandal was sparked off by auditor EY refusing to sign off Wirecard's 2019 accounts last Thursday due to the unaccounted cash.
Frankfurt-listed Wirecard has lost most of its market value in less than a week after two Asian banks supposedly holding 1.9b euros of missing cash denied any business relationship with it.
Last year, Singapore police raided Wirecard's premises following allegations of fraud at its local office.
Prosecutors had said in March 2019 that eight Wirecard subsidiaries were under investigation in a criminal probe of suspected forgeries, falsified documents, money laundering and round-tripping of funds to support false transactions that were believed to have taken place between 2014 and 2018.
Wirecard Singapore has declined to comment on the latest developments.
