From inside its grey corporate headquarters in Aschheim outside Munich, Wirecard projects an image of one of Germany’s leading business success stories, a fintech champion to rival software giant SAP. After a decade of breakneck growth, Wirecard has become a favourite among investors, with a market capitalisation greater than Deutsche Bank, placing the company in the prestigious Dax 30 index.
在位于慕尼黑附近的阿舍姆(Aschheim)的灰色总部大楼内部，Wirecard处处展现出作为德国最成功商业故事之一的形象——一家与软件巨头SAP竞争的金融科技领军公司。在经历了10年的飞速发展后，Wirecard已成为投资者的宠儿，市值超过德意志银行(Deutsche Bank)，成功跻身著名的Dax 30指数。
Yet Wirecard’s seemingly irresistible rise has been plagued by intermittent controversy about its accounting and business practices. Earlier this year, white-collar crime investigators raided Wirecard’s offices in Singapore multiple times in connection with allegations that sales and profits were invented at numerous subsidiaries across Asia. Edo Kurniawan, the company’s head of international reporting, was named among six suspects.
然而，Wirecard看似势不可挡的崛起，一直被有关其会计和商业行为断断续续的争议所困扰。今年早些时候，白领犯罪调查人员对Wirecard在新加坡的办公室进行了多次突击搜查，原因是Wirecard在亚洲各地的多家子公司被指控伪造销售额和利润。该公司国际报告负责人埃多•库尼亚万(Edo Kurniawan)是六名嫌疑人之一。
In response, Markus Braun, Wirecard’s Austrian chief executive, dismissed the problems as a local difficulty with scant financial impact. He blamed the payment processing company’s fast growth and outlined a dozen measures to improve compliance, including the appointment of a new chairman of the supervisory board in 2020. Wirecard’s stock price, which initially fell 40 per cent to €97, has since recovered to about €140, giving it a €17bn market capitalisation.
作为回应，Wirecard的奥地利籍首席执行官马库斯•布劳恩(Markus Braun)对这些问题不屑一顾，认为它们只是局部的问题，对财务影响甚微。他将其归咎于这家支付处理公司的快速增长，并概述了十几项提高合规性的措施，包括2020年任命新的监事会主席。Wirecard的股价最初下跌40%，至每股97欧元，后来回升至每股140欧元左右，使其市值达到170亿欧元。
Today, the Financial Times is publishing documents which cast further doubt on Wirecard’s accounting practices. Internal company spreadsheets, along with related correspondence between senior members of Wirecard’s finance team, appear to indicate a concerted effort to fraudulently inflate sales and profits at Wirecard businesses in Dubai and Ireland, as well as to potentially mislead EY, Wirecard’s tier-one auditor.
英国《金融时报》在周二中公布的文件进一步对Wirecard的会计操作提出质疑。Wirecard内部的电子表格，以及Wirecard财务团队资深成员之间的相关信件，似乎表明Wirecard内部联合起来虚报Wirecard在迪拜和爱尔兰的销售额和利润，并且有可能误导了其一级审计机构安永(EY)。
The decision to publish these documents follows repeated charges by Wirecard that the FT is relying on fake material and that its own journalism is corrupt and suspect. The documents, provided by whistleblowers, give the clearest picture to date of Wirecard’s questionable accounting practices and business model.
在英国《金融时报》决定公布这些文件之前，Wirecard曾多次指控英国《金融时报》依赖虚假材料、且其自身的新闻报道也存在腐败和可疑之处。这些由举报人提供的文件，为Wirecard可疑的会计操作和商业模式提供了迄今为止最清晰的画面。
In its defence, Wirecard has claimed that FT reporters have facilitated market manipulation in collusion with short sellers. These allegations have been widely circulated in the German media and are the subject of a legal complaint in Germany, an investigation by BaFin, the German financial regulator, and a probe by prosecutors in Munich.
Wirecard在辩解中称，英国《金融时报》记者与卖空机构勾结，协助操纵市场。这些指控已在德国媒体上广泛传播，并在德国引发了一场法律诉讼，以及德国金融监管机构联邦金融监管局(BaFin)和慕尼黑检方的调查。
The FT categorically rejects Wirecard’s allegations on all counts. A recently concluded two-month review conducted by an external law firm, RPC, found no evidence of collusion between FT reporters and market participants.
英国《金融时报》断然驳斥Wirecard的所有指控。最近，外部律师事务所RPC进行了为期两个月的调查，结果发现，没有证据表明英国《金融时报》记者与市场人士勾结。
Established in 1999, Wirecard has been a pioneer in the processing of digital payments. In Germany, where consumers prefer to pay in cash, it caught the imagination of investors looking for a blue-chip European digital champion to match those in Silicon Valley.
Wirecard成立于1999年，是数字支付处理领域的先驱。在消费者更喜欢用现金支付的德国，Wirecard抓住了投资者的想象，后者一直在寻找能与硅谷此类公司匹敌的蓝筹欧洲数字领军公司。
Initially known for processing payments for online gambling markets and porn sites, Wirecard purchased a bank in 2006 and evolved into a full-service payments operation, providing the software and systems to plug online businesses into the global financial system.
Wirecard最初以为线上赌场和色情网站处理支付业务而闻名，2006年它收购了一家银行，发展成提供全方位服务的支付业务，还提供将在线企业接入全球金融体系的软件和系统。