steal a billion? no problem

Another bank scandal here. Not really a bank scandal here but like the stealing of the money from Bangladesh that went via the (Chinese) casinos here and disappeared, it was outsiders using (bribing) local bank officials to help them steal money.

And this time, it wasn't the usual corrupt suspects (i.e. Chinese gangsters) but the every so hoity toity superior Germans (/s), the German company Wirecard.

From CNNPh:

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 19) – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is investigating reports involving two local banks said to be holding the missing $2.1 billion cash of Wirecard AG, a German payments firm. In separate statements, BDO Unibank, Inc. and Bank of the Philippine Islands denied claims Wirecard is their client, adding that they are also doing their own investigations. "The document claiming the existence of a Wirecard account with BDO is a falsified document and carries forged signatures of bank officers," BDO said Friday.

apparantly, stealing 2.1 billion dollars is no big deal: Because the story has been around since mid June but hey, no one bothered to notice it outside of the business news channels, which we don't get here in the Philippines.
Here is a WSJ article from June 19.

The chief executive of Wirecard AG resigned after two banks in the Philippines meant to be holding over $2 billion on behalf of the fintech giant said they don’t have the cash and never did.

the money was supposed to be in Filipino banks, but wasn't, and the documents saying it was were fake.

the latest? after the Filipino banks said they never had anything to do with the money, Wirecard said: whoops our bad... the money never existed. Leading to this quip:

So how do billions of dollars disappear? You brush them under the rug and pretend they don’t exist in the first place.

I checked the company's website and here is one paragraph describing their activity:
Uh Oh:

Accepting payments worldwide The world’s smartest financial commercial platform lets you accept and make digital payments. Capture data on POS, online, and mobile payments worldwide. Gain unique insights on your customers and their purchasing behavior. Raise the performance of your business to the next level.

Translation: We'll let you pay on line while spying on you. (so, do they also make money selling this information to other companies? Inquiring minds want to know).

Wirecard's website also brags about the future cashless society. (May 15 press release).

The accelerated transition to cashless Contactless booms across Europe as habits change

yes, thank the virus. Never let a disaster go to waste.

Now, of course, the company's stock is tanking because the news has finally gotten around.

so there you have it: Lots of happy happy articles saying we are going to have a cashless society and isn't it wonderful, while in the backpages you will find that the fox is in the henhouse stealing your money.

don't ask me: I usually use cash here, but the mall is now letting you pay with both credit card and with your phone. And of course, I do use my ATM to get cash.

So I only have to worry about theft of cash when I shop or by a home invasion (a lot less of this since Duterte took over), and of course, the possibility that I will end up with counterfeit bills. 

You know, to a lot of us, a billion dollars is a lot of money, but never mind.