“An institution that is an autarchic one, just demanding from the top down, is one that is more likely to fail,” Mr Freis added. The executive would take over as chief executive on June 19th after it emerged that Wirecard was unable to confirm the existence of €1.9 billion of cash balances on the accounts. Mr Freis told the conference that the hardest thing was “being in there alone” as he took over the rapidly-failing business. Former Wirecard chief executive Markus Braun was arrested in June on suspicion of falsifying accounts. Mr Freis said that that he is currently “thinking about stepping back and looking towards more non-executive board of director positions and advisory roles”.

Source: The Irish Times October 14, 2020 14:40 UTC