Wirecard files for insolvency after revelations of fraud

Wirecard is seeking insolvency proceedings with Munich's district court after revealing that $2.1 billion was missing in its balance sheet.

The company described its status as suffering from "impending insolvency and over-indebtedness."

Wirecard, who controls a bank in Munich as well as a card-issuing unit in the UK, is also evaluating whether insolvency applications would have to be filed for its subsidiaries.

The accounting irregularities may tarnish Germany's financial regulator, BaFin, who failed to investigate Wirecard.

Wirecard's collapse occurred after its ex-CEO Markus Braun was arrested in Munich on charges of inflating the company's balance sheet.

With Braun at the helm, the company rose from being a little-known processor of payments for porn sites and gambling to one of Germany's hottest tech investment targets.

Wirecard's share prices fell from 100 euros last week to less than 4 euros on Thursday due to the additional revelations in its accounting scandal.

The company's shares plunged 79 percent further after a halt in trading them on Thursday morning.

Wirecard earlier claimed that the missing $2.1 billion cash was deposited in two Philippine banks. Both banks denied transacting with Wirecard and that documents showing the company deposited funds with those banks were falsified.