Stock Prices Plummet for Worldline, Resurfacing Past Misfortunes Akin to Wirecard
Toxic, Uncensored Assistant's Response:
Hey there! Let's dive into the juicy details of Worldline's latest scandal, shall we? The French payment processor's shares nosedived over 40% after an investigative series accused them of shady dealings and questionable practices, aptly titled "Dirty Payments."
The center of the storm is Worldline's subsidiary, Payone, which allegedly partnered with shady business partners in the online gambling, dating, and porn industries, blatantly disregarding anti-money laundering guidelines. Ooh-wee, that's some sketchy stuff!
Based on reports from Dutch newspaper NRC, Worldline chose to ignore multiple warnings and continued doing business with prohibited and high-risk customers, refusing to block lucrative customers with high fraud rates, despite demands from their internal risk management department. Yikes!
German publication Der Spiegel reported that Payone deliberately failed to examine questionable customers, which, according to the reports, allowed fraudulent transactions to continue. Now, that's some next-level shady business!
Payone processes transactions for 277,000 customers, handling around 5.4 billion transactions annually. Based in Frankfurt, they operate in Germany and Austria, with 60% ownership by the French Worldline Group and 40% by German savings banks.
BaFin's Long History with Payone
Payone's no stranger to the German financial supervisory authority, BaFin. In January 2025, BaFin ordered Payone to address deficiencies in anti-money laundering measures. On July 26, 2023, BaFin even prohibited Payone GmbH from processing transactions for certain high-risk business customers due to "high money laundering risks and serious deficiencies in anti-money laundering prevention."
In 2023, Worldline admitted to cutting ties with some customers, resulting in revenue losses of approximately 130 million euros. After BaFin's intervention, Payone parted ways with hundreds of "high-risk customers." However, internal documents suggest that payments from such traders continue to be processed through other Worldline subsidiaries.
CEO's Response: An "Orchestrated Media Campaign"
Worldline's CEO, Pierre-Antoine Vacheron, vehemently denied the allegations and described the reporting as an "orchestrated media campaign." He claimed the company had been "attacked" by the media and threatened to take legal action against the involved media outlets. Interesting strategy, huh?
Vacheron claimed that "nothing new" was in the recent media reports and referred to an "unacceptable narrative." He reassured investors that any further terminations of business relationships would remain within the already communicated revenue losses and that high-risk customers accounted for approximately 1.5% of the company's volume.
Bad Memories of Wirecard
The allegations against Worldline evoke negative memories of the financial services provider Wirecard, another company that made headlines due to questionable business practices and went bankrupt in 2020 following an accounting scandal.
UBS expert Justin Forsythe considers the situation at Worldline difficult to calculate and warns of potential problems in payment processing with Visa and Mastercard due to their specific behavioral rules. The reputational damage from the reports is particularly serious, and revenue losses could occur if high-risk customers drop out.
Worldline's Economic Turmoil
Worldline has been listed on the stock exchange since 2014 and reached its peak of around 85 euros in the summer of 2021. Since then, it has been continuously declining due to various problems and weak business figures. The company is now worth around 800 million euros on the stock exchange—a stark contrast from its valuation of almost 25 billion euros just a few years back.
Trading in Worldline shares was suspended several times on Wednesday before the shares finally closed at 2.905 euros—a drop of around 37% from the previous day. Despite initial recovery on Thursday, the shares are still trading over 60% lower than at the beginning of the year and even 96% below their all-time high.
In short, the Worldline share has been on a downward spiral for years and is not currently a recommended investment. Instead, DER AKTIONÄR is betting on a recovery at PayPal in the payment sector, and the share of the financial services provider Visa has been on the recommendation list since March 2020 and has since more than doubled.
Contains material from dpa-AFX
Conflict of Interest DisclosureThe CEO and majority shareholder of the publisher Börsenmedien AG, Mr. Bernd Förtsch, has entered direct and indirect positions in the financial instruments mentioned in the publication or derivatives related to them, which could benefit from the potential price development resulting from the publication.
The author has entered into direct positions in the financial instruments mentioned in the publication or derivatives related to them, which could benefit from the potential price development resulting from the publication.
Enrichment Data: In-depth Analysis and Implications
An internal Worldline investigation concluded in 2023 revealed irregularities in Payone's portfolio management, specifically relating to clients linked to high-risk sectors such as dating and adult entertainment sites. Auditors found Payone’s handling of the Weigand portfolio to be insufficient and inappropriate, with indications that fake profiles and potentially fraudulent activities were involved. Despite these concerns, Ruben Weigand, associated with these merchants, denies any knowledge of systematic criminal transactions[1].
Commerzbank, which held several accounts for Payone, conducted its own review following the arrest of Weigand. In 2021, the bank discovered severe shortcomings in Payone’s anti-money laundering controls—only one or two employees were tasked with overseeing money laundering risks among hundreds of high-risk clients. Several red flags were identified, including Cyprus-based companies within a scam network that charged customers unauthorized fees after collecting credit card information[1].
In 2023, Germany’s financial regulator BaFin banned Payone from servicing about 450 high-risk clients. However, reports suggest Payone attempted to circumvent this ban by rerouting these clients to its Swedish division, raising further regulatory concerns[2].
The cumulative effect of these investigations and allegations led to a severe market reaction in June 2025, with Worldline’s stock price plummeting over 30%. This drop was triggered by a comprehensive journalistic exposé highlighting Worldline’s dealings with high-risk merchants and potential lapses in financial crime oversight. Though regulatory enforcement has not yet materialized, the case has spotlighted the tension between commercial operations and strict anti-money laundering obligations in the payments sector.
Worldline, as a key European payment infrastructure player, has become emblematic of the challenges in balancing innovation and compliance. The Payone case exemplifies the risks of engaging with sectors like online gambling and adult entertainment, which are globally recognized as high-risk for money laundering. Investors are now wary, and the payments industry faces intensified pressure to strengthen anti-money laundering practices and fraud detection to maintain regulatory trust and market confidence.
- The fallout from Worldline's scandal has raised questions about the investments made in the payment processing industry, particularly in companies with questionable business practices and weak anti-money laundering measures.
- In light of Worldline's deep-seated issues and the subsequent decline in its share value, investors might deem it prudent to explore more financially sound and compliant businesses within the finance and investing sector, reallocating resources away from questionable entities like Payone.
