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Central bank says Wirecard's missing funds didn't enter Philippines

19 June 2020, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Rottweil: ILLUSTRATION - The lettering of the payment service provider Wirecard can be seen on a laptop screen. Photo: Silas Stein/dpa (Photo by Silas Stein/picture alliance via Getty Images)
Photo: Silas Stein/dpa (Photo by Silas Stein/picture alliance via Getty Images)

Philipine’s central bank said none of the €1.9bn (£1.7bn, $2.1bn) missing from troubled German payments firm Wirecard (WDI.DE) entered the country’s financial system.

According to a Reuters report, BDO Unibank and Bank of the Philippine Island (BPI) said documents appearing to show Wirecard had deposited funds with them were false.

“The initial report is that no money entered the Philippines and that there is no loss to both banks,” said the bank’s governor, Benjamin Diokno, adding that investigations are still ongoing.

“The international financial scandal used the names of two of the country’s biggest banks — BDO and BPI — in an attempt to cover the perpetrators’ track,” he said.

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According to Diokono, BDO and BPI have stated Wirecard they had no business link with the firm.

BPI told Reuters earlier it had suspended a employee whose signature appeared on one of the fraudulent documents and BDO told the central bank it believed one of its marketing officers had fabricated a bank certificate.

READ MORE: Second COVID wave, key PMI data to impact markets as UK preps to reopen restaurants

It was reported last week that CEO Markus Braun is stepping down, after news that the company cannot account for the $2.1bn in cash missing from its accounts.

News of the missing cash prompted Wirecard’s stock price to plunge by over 60% on the DAX last Thursday (18 June), and to collapse again on 19 June by almost half, chopping around €10bn off its value in less than two days.

The stock recovered slightly on news of Braun’s resignation.

Wirecard has hired US investment bank Houlihan Lokey to come up with a new financing strategy after Moody’s slashed its rating to junk.

Meanwhile, Matthew Earl, a short seller and former City analyst, has accused the Financial Conduct Authority as well as Visa and Mastercard of ignoring Wirecard’s problems. He claimed he contacted them several times from early 2016 to warn that Wirecard looked to have far riskier clients than it let on, The Times reported.

READ MORE: Wirecard seeks new financing strategy after slashed rating