* Philippines open investigation into Wirecard accounting
* Ex-chief operating officer Marsalek may be in the country
* Ex-CEO Braun released on bail, remains a suspect
* Wirecard has disclosed $2.1 billion financial hole
* Banks in crisis talks on 1.75 billion euro credit line
(Adds market reaction, Visa, bankers, Softbank source)
By Jörn Poltz and Karen Lema
MUNICH/MANILA, June 24 (Reuters) - Wirecard's missing $2.1
billion is being investigated by the Philippines, which said
that the German payments firm's former chief operating officer
Jan Marsalek may be in the country.
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said on Wednesday that he
had told state investigators to coordinate with the Philippine
central bank's anti-money laundering council in the inquiry.
Marsalek was fired on Monday after Wirecard said that the
cash, purportedly held at two Philippine banks which have denied
any links with the firm, probably did not exist. "There are some indications that he may have returned
recently and may still be here," Guevarra said in a text message
to reporters, adding that immigration records showed the
40-year-old Austrian had been in the Philippines from March 3-5.
Marsalek's lawyer could not be reached for comment.
Wirecard's already battered shares fell a further 30% as a
consortium of banks held crisis talks on how to recoup around $2
billion in loans to Wirecard, whose only listed bond crashed to
17 cents on the euro. DE205218076=
Munich prosecutors may seek Marsalek's arrest, German
business daily newspaper Handelsblatt reported. Germany has no
extradition treaty with the Philippines.
The prosecutor's office declined to comment, as did the
court that would need to approve any arrest warrant.
Former chief executive Markus Braun, who was arrested in
Munich on Monday on suspicion of misrepresenting Wirecard's
accounts and of market manipulation, was released on Tuesday
after posting bail of 5 million euros ($5.6 million).
Although a warrant against Braun, who is also Austrian, has
been lifted, he remains under investigation. Braun's lawyer
Alfred Dierlamm declined to comment. UNLIKELY'
During Braun's 18 years as CEO, Wirecard WDIG.DE grew into
a $28 billion 'fintech' firm that won a spot in 2018 in
Germany's DAX blue-chip index. It fell from grace last Thursday
when auditor EY refused to sign its 2019 accounts. Braun said Wirecard may have been a victim of fraud before
he quit last Friday. The ensuing scandal has rocked Germany's
financial establishment, shown regulators to have been asleep at
the wheel, and sent Wirecard shares down by nearly 90% to value
the business at $1.5 billion.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch cut its share-price target to
1 euro from 14 euros, saying customers may be starting to
abandon Wirecard, while banks it owes 1.75 billion euros ($1.97
billion) to may be weighing the closure of credit lines.
"These developments may make the business unsustainable,"
its analysts wrote in a note.
Payments giant Visa V.N said it was monitoring the
situation, while Mastercard MA.N declined to comment. Wirecard
runs real and virtual payment cards for both.
Southeast Asian ride-hailing and payments company Grab said
it had put its partnership with Wirecard on hold. The alliance, which is backed by Softbank 9984.T , was part
of a broader pact in which the Japanese investor put money into
Wirecard last year. A source close to Softbank said all of its
group companies would probably sever ties with Wirecard.
CRISIS MANAGER
Wirecard's new CEO James Freis, a former financial
investigator at the U.S. Treasury and compliance chief at the
Frankfurt Stock Exchange, is holding crisis talks with a
consortium of 15 banks led by Germany's Commerzbank CBKG.DE .
With Wirecard having failed to file audited financials, they
could call in the loans at any time.
Some creditors do not, for now, favour tipping Wirecard into
insolvency. It could get a stay of execution until the end of
the month, as creditors look to a July 1 deadline for extending
the loan, sources familiar with the matter said.
But with the disclosure of the financial hole wiping out a
decade of cash flows, it will be tough for Wirecard to survive
even with a debt restructuring as underlying profitability could
be weak, said Richard Sbaschnig, a forensic accountant at CFRA.
Wirecard's potential break-up value is likely to be limited,
Sbaschnig added, as earnings appear to have been negative in
2018 after stripping out the impact of the obscure third-party
acquiring partners at the centre of the suspected fraud.
($1 = 0.8849 euros)
($1 = 0.8872 euros)