FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Germany’s state development bank KfW could lose 100 million euros (90.9 million pounds) after payments company Wirecard filed for insolvency, a spokesman said on Saturday.
KfW subsidiary Ipex Bank lent Wirecard the sum two years ago, reported the Boersen Zeitung daily. The funds were fully drawn down but were not hedged by Ipex, the KfW spokesman confirmed on Saturday.
“Ipex threw 100 million euros into the fire,” the KfW spokesman said.
Wirecard collapsed on Thursday, owing creditors almost $4 billion in what is shaping up to be one of Germany’s biggest corporate scandals. German regulator BaFin has been criticised at home and abroad for not spotting problems sooner.
Fifteen Wirecard lenders have mandated FTI Consulting as financial adviser in talks with the company on whether to waive covenants on roughly 1.75 billion euros in loans to the German firms, Reuters has reported.
(Photos syndicated via Reuters)
This story has been edited by BH staff and is published from a syndicated field