Stefanie Yuen Thio quoted in the BT: “Wirecard scandal puts audit firms, not fintechs, in hot seat”

In a Business Times story published on 3 July 2020 on the Wirecard scandal, TSMP Law Corporation joint managing partner Stefanie Yuen Thio said: “The Wirecard scandal is more likely to hurt the reputation of the accounting firms than of fintechs generally, especially if, as I’ve read in the reports, there was a failure on the auditors’ part to ask very basic questions.” 

“I imagine there will be a flight to quality as merchants and card issuers use service providers who are tested and reliable,” she added.

She noted that digital upstarts may find it harder to raise funds as investors “shy away from what may be considered a riskier play”. That said, she sees this as a short-term reaction as the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of e-commerce and contactless payments.

“You need payment systems for those. There’s no turning back that clock,” she said.

Wirecard’s Singapore entities are currently exempted from licensing, though Wirecard has sent a licence application to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) under the new Payment Services Act.

This new Act is a “much needed” restructuring of the current framework, she said.