The following timeline summarises the developments that led to the collapse of the company, as well as key moments since:
1999: Wirecard is founded in Munich.
2002: Markus Braun, previously a KPMG consultant, takes over as chief executive.
2005: Wirecard is listed on the Deutsche Boerse Frankfurt (Frankfurt Stock Exchange), Prime Standard segment.
2006: Consolidation of Wirecard Bank AG.
2007: Wirecard Asia Pacific established.
2010: Jan Marsalek appointed Chief Operating Officer at Wirecard.
2016: A negative report by short sellers Zatarra Research alleges fraudulent activity at Wirecard, claiming that senior executives have committed money laundering offences, as well as defrauding Mastercard and Visa.
2018: Wirecard joins the DAX blue-chip market index, making it officially one of the 30 most valuable German companies listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
2019
Jan. 30: Wirecard denies a report in the Financial Times that a company's executive had used forged and backdated contracts in a string of suspicious transactions that raised questions about the integrity of the company's accounting practice.
Feb. 19: BaFin informs the finance ministry that it has ordered an inquiry into Wirecard's accounting, and is banning short-selling in the company's stock.
March 28: Wirecard sues the FT over a series of investigative reports that it said made use of, and misrepresented, business secrets.
Oct. 21: The company hires KPMG to conduct an independent audit to address allegations by the FT that its finance team had sought to inflate reported sales and profits.
2020
Apr. 28: An independent investigation by auditor KPMG finds that Wirecard did not provide sufficient documentation to address all allegations of accounting irregularities made by the Financial Times.
May 25: Publication of final 2019 results is postponed for a third time.
June 18: Auditor EY refuses to sign off Wirecard's 2019 accounts as it was unable to confirm the existence of 1.9 billion euros ($1.99 billion) in cash balances on trust accounts, representing around a quarter of its balance sheet.
June 19: Wirecard's CEO Markus Braun quits as firm's search for missing cash hits a dead end in the Philippines and it scrambles to secure a financial lifeline from its banks.
June 22: Wirecard says that the 1.9 billion euros it booked in its accounts likely never existed.
June 22: The finance ministry examines giving Wirecard loan from state bank KfW, documents seen by Reuters show.
June 23: Wirecard's former boss Braun is released on bail after being arrested on suspicion of falsifying the company's accounts.
June 25: Wirecard files for insolvency, owing creditors almost $4 billion after disclosing a gaping hole in its books.
June 29: A Munich court appoints Michael Jaffe to manage the insolvency of Wirecard.
July 1: Police and public prosecutors raid Wirecard's headquarters in Munich and four properties in German and Austria as they widen their investigation into the company.
July 2: The head of Germany's financial watchdog calls the accounting scandal at Wirecard "a massive criminal act".
July 6: German prosecutors arrest the head of a Dubai-based subsidiary of Wirecard.
July 9: German state prosecutors start investigating individuals at Wirecard for suspected money laundering.
July 16: The former head of a Dubai-based subsidiary of Wirecard admits wrongdoing to prosecutors for his role in a multi-billion-euro fraud.
July 22: German prosecutors arrest three former top executives of Wirecard, including Braun, saying they suspected them of masterminding a criminal racket to fake the company's accounts and defraud creditors of billions of euros.
Sept. 1: German lawmakers launch a parliamentary inquiry into Wirecard.
2021
Jan. 29: Felix Hufeld, president of German financial watchdog BaFin, steps down.
Feb. 2: Olaf Scholz, then German finance minister and vice-chancellor, announces he is giving BaFin more powers to spot and investigate misconduct at companies it supervises.
Feb. 24: The head of Germany's accounting watchdog steps down.
April 22: Scholz denies any responsibility for the Wirecard fraud.
April 23: Then chancellor Angela Merkel rejects criticism of her lobbying for Wirecard in China months before it collapsed, saying she had no reason to suspect the firm of criminality.
June 5: Authorities in the Philippines plan to sue some Wirecard executives.
2022
Jan. 14: German prosecutors file first charges in Wirecard fraud, the Financial Times reports.
Sept. 21: A Munich district court said it had admitted charges against former Wirecard executives, paving way for a trial.
($1 = 0.9530 euros)
(Reporting by Tommy Lund, Jagoda Darlak, Bartosz Dabrowski, Linda Pasquini, Tristan Chabba, Anastasiia Kozlova, John O'Donnell. Editing by Jane Merriman)
