Wirecard was once seen as one of the hottest fintechs in Europe and as recently as last week their share price was still €98; shares now trade at €14 and the company is reeling from an accounting scandal where €1.9bn of cash never existed; Wirecard CEO resigned and was arrested as of this writing; the crisis could reach much farther as many might see this as a reason to not invest in other fintech companies; fintechs do not yet have the benefit of being around for decades, each crisis is amplified and could damage the market for years; the Wirecard issues come at the worst time for fintechs as they are dealing with the ramifications of the pandemic; companies would benefit from being more open and transparent to prove to investors and partners they are not the next Wirecard. Financial Times.
