German payments company Wirecard has filed for insolvency after disclosing a $2.1 billion (£1.6 billion) financial hole in its accounts.
Shares were suspended before the announcement by the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
They have lost more than 90% of their value since auditor EY refused to sign off on the 2019 accounts, leading to the resignation of long-time chief executive Markus Braun last Friday.
Wirecard said in a two-paragraph statement that its new management had decided to apply for insolvency at a Munich court “due to impending insolvency and over-indebtedness”.
It also said it was evaluating whether to file for insolvency proceedings for its subsidiaries.
The one-time German tech darling had been holding emergency talks with its banks.
The Munich-based fintech has collapsed less than two years after it won admission to Germany’s prestigious DAX blue-chip index. At its peak it was worth $28 billion. The company becomes the first sitting member of the DAX to collapse.
