German fund group DWS drops plan to hire EY after Wirecard scandal

[FRANKFURT] German fund manager DWS has dropped plans to have EY as its auditor as a result of the Wirecard scandal, saying on Tuesday it had opted to retain KPMG instead.

EY had signed off for years on the accounts of Wirecard, the German payments that collapsed in June after a 1.9 billion euro (S$3.08 billion) hole was discovered in its books.

"This decision... was made to avoid any possible future conflicts arising from EY's role as statutory auditor of Wirecard," a DWS spokesperson said, adding that the fund management group would retain KPMG as its auditor.

In response to the DWS decision, EY said: "of course we would have wished for a different outcome".

Meanwhile, Deutsche Bank, which is the majority owner of DWS, said it plans to keep EY on as its auditor.

"We will closely monitor all further developments and analyse their impact on the bank," Germany's largest bank said in a statement.

REUTERS