Worldline Hires Auditor to Assess Risky Client Portfolio
The audit has been assigned to a firm called Accuracy, the company said in a statement. The company is also hiring Oliver Wyman to review its control systems, with the law firm Paul Hastings LLP spearheading the two assessments.
Worldline hopes to release the first conclusions of the in-depth review alongside its earnings later this month, according to the statement. It expects to identify any potential weaknesses and areas for improvement by the end of October.
'In such cases, necessary action plans will be executed to ensure optimal operational integrity,' the company said in the statement. 'Worldline's top management and board of directors are fully committed to strict compliance with regulations and risk prevention standards.'
Last week, several media outlets coordinated by the European Investigative Collaborations published reports that Worldline ignored warnings from regulators and continued doing business with risky clients with high fraud rates, including pornographers and dating websites. The company's share price plunged on the news, cutting its market value — which had previously peaked at about €24 billion ($28.1 billion) around four years ago — to below €1 billion.
Chief Executive Officer Pierre-Antoine Vacheron has labeled the media reports as an orchestrated attack on the company and said he's considering legal action. The Brussels Public Prosecutor's Office subsequently opened a probe into Worldline's Belgian unit while Sweden's Financial Supervisory Authority said it called the company to a meeting.
Inside Worldline, the review will be overseen by a special committee of the company's board along with Vacheron.
--With assistance from Jenny Che.
(Updates with more details from company statement beginning in second paragraph.)
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