WDI

Wirecard AG

A German financial-technology firm that processed card and online payments for merchants and even ran its own bank. Founded in 1999 near Munich during the dot-com boom, its name blends "wire" transfers with "card" payments, and it got its start handling transactions for high-risk businesses like online gambling and adult sites that mainstream banks shunned. It grew into a DAX-listed giant before collapsing in 2020 after auditors discovered that cash supposedly held in overseas trustee accounts did not exist.