Wirecard AG shares continued their free-fall, dropping a further 45% after the two Asian banks that were supposed to be holding 1.9 billion euros ($2.1 billion) of missing cash denied any business relationship with the German payments company.
Wirecard now faces a potential cash crunch. The company warned Thursday that loans of up to 2 billion euros could be terminated if its audited annual report is not published on Friday. Analysts at Morgan Stanley estimated that Wirecard has available cash of around 220 million euros, if it cannot locate the missing $2.1 billion.
BDO Unibank Inc., the Philippines’ largest bank by assets, and the Bank of the Philippine Islands said in separate statements on Friday that Wirecard isn’t a client.
“It was a rogue employee who falsified documents and forged the signatures of our officers,” BDO Unibank Chief Executive Officer Nestor Tan said in a mobile phone message. “Wirecard is not even a depositor — we have no relationship with them”.
The Bank of the Philippine Islands said in a separate statement that Wirecard isn’t a client and it continues to investigate the issue.
Wirecard was worth 24.6 billion euros in September 2018 when it entered Germany’s Dax index. It is currently valued at about 2.4 billion euros.
*WIRECARD CDS SHOW 82% CHANCE OF DEFAULT BY YEAR-END
— fiatcurrency (@fiatcurrency) June 19, 2020
Things are moving very fast now. Wirecard chief quits as crisis deepens t.co/aWUYp0Q5jx via @financialtimes
— Neil Hume (@humenm) June 19, 2020
If this reaction is representative of @Wirecard’s average client, expect a run very soon on Wirecard Bank. If the German authorities don’t shut them down first that is. t.co/ZkIBELm5So
— Quintessential Capital Management (@QCMFunds) June 19, 2020