The plain text banker leaves – and leaves a gap

new York Wirecard’s CFO sounds excited when ING calls him: In March 2020, Alexander von Knoop drew the entire credit line that the German branch of the major Dutch bank had contractually granted his group – 200 million euros.

“We asked him why he wanted the money now. His answer: as a precaution, because of Corona,” recalls Joachim von Schorlemer, Vice President of ING. “All of my hazard warning lights came on.”

“Maybe we should have delayed the payout or secured the loan like Deutsche Bank did,” says Schorlemer today. Alone: ​​contract is contract. During this time, companies around the world are drawing their credit lines; also transfers the ING. Three months later, Wirecard goes bankrupt, the millions are gone. “That was perhaps the darkest hour of my professional life.”