“For the time being, the insolvency of the Wirecard Group has no consequences for the customers of the German discounter Aldi.” Aldi Süd is a contractual partner of Wirecard Bank AG, which has a German full banking licence, is under the supervision of the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) and is not part of the insolvency proceedings envisaged,” the discounter announced in response to Die Welt’s request. Cooperation with the bank is limited to the processing of credit card payments and the aldi gift card business.
“There has been no change for our customers in either area: they can pay with their credit cards as usual at Aldi Süd and also redeem their Aldi gift cards, the balances on the cards are safe and covered,” the company said.
Aldi remains in contact with Wirecard to clarify the situation. Aldi declined to comment on speculation about the future.
Aldi is the first German retailer to speak out in the Wirecard scandal. So far, there has only been talk of Asian companies that had announced their desire to end their business relationship with the company. For example, the Asian ride-sharing service Grab – a competitor of Uber – had put on hold the plan to process all payments via Wirecard in the future.
According to earlier data from the Group, more than 300,000 merchants worldwide use the Wirecard system for credit card transactions. Whether this figure is correct is doubtful, given the falsification of the balance sheet in Asia.
In Europe, Aldi, Ikea and the airline KLM are among the customers. You could now look for other unwinders.
Up to 19.7 million euros per customer are covered
The Wirecard Group filed for bankruptcy on Thursday. The company’s balance sheet lacks at least 1.9 billion euros.
Wirecard Bank is not affected by this insolvency. However, it has been under scrutiny since this week by a special representative of the financial regulator BaFin.
Among other things, it is intended to prevent money from flowing from the bank into the group. The bank customers’ assets are secured by the Deposit Guarantee Fund of private banks – up to a sum of 19.7 million euros per customer.
What will be important now will be how credit card companies behave. Visa and Mastercard are still reluctant to comment on the matter.
“The stability of the payment ecosystem is always our central concern,” Visa says. “We are closely monitoring current developments and evaluating new information as soon as it is made known.” Priority would be given to maintaining the integrity of the payment system and protecting customers.
Mastercard says it is being closely watched. A spokeswoman said: “Our priority is to make sure people can continue to use their cards. We will continue to work with all parties and stand ready to take all necessary measures.”
