The 150,000 French holders of Transcash prepaid cards can breathe. As of this Tuesday, they will again be able to use their cards to pay, withdraw or transfer money. Since Friday, all operations were prohibited after the bankruptcy of the German giant of online payments Wirecard.
Suspected of having inflated his accounts with fictitious funds in the Philippines, the German group which employs 6,000 employees filed for bankruptcy on Thursday, creating "a scandal without equivalent in the world of finance" by the admission of the German government. This scandal, already compared to that of Enron in the United States in 2008, led to the suspension on Friday of the activities of its English subsidiary, which issues prepaid cards from Transcash (company MF-Tel). And at the same time the suspension of its 150,000 prepaid cards in circulation in France.
A goodwill gesture ?
“We are happy to inform our customers that after three and a half days of audit, the FCA ( Editor's note: the financial control authority in Great Britain ) authorizes since Tuesday midnight the English subsidiary of Wirecard to resume its payment activities, which should quickly unblock our cards, ”says Rémi Domenge, marketing and communications manager at Transcash. As of this Tuesday, the 150,000 holders of prepaid cards should be able to use it again.
"We continue to closely monitor Wirecard's activities and certain requirements remain in effect," said a FCA statement. This should not, however, affect the services that Wirecard provides to its customers. This means that customers can use their cards now or very soon if necessary. ”
As Wirecard's main customer in France since 2018, Transcash is now considering changing providers or "expanding to other card issuers to limit the risk of blocking in the future," says Rémi Domenge. Aware of the embarrassment linked to the impossibility of using its cards at the end of this month, the company "is thinking about a commercial gesture" for its 150,000 disabled carriers.