Fintech Wise's shares fall after report of Belgian prosecutor investigation
Fintech Wise's shares fall after report of Belgian prosecutor investigation By Elizabeth Howcroft and Sophie Kiderlin
PARIS, June 1 (Reuters) - Money transfer company Wise's London-listed shares WISEa.L were down around 15% at 0900 GMT on Monday, after a report by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism said the company is being investigated by prosecutors in Belgium over €500 million ($582.5 million) worth of suspicious transactions.
Wise WSE.O, which shifted its primary listing to the Nasdaq last month, responded to the report in a statement, without confirming the amount cited.
Here's what Wise said:
"We are currently working with the Brussels prosecutor to respond to queries about our business, as we routinely do with regulators and law-enforcement authorities," the firm said.
"No specific findings have been shared with us to date."
Requests for information from law enforcement agencies and suspicious activity reports "are a normal part of operations and are not, in themselves, indicative of non-compliance with anti-money laundering requirements or of any wrongdoing," it said.
"Like every financial institution, we face the reality of increasingly sophisticated bad actors attempting to exploit our platform and we continually invest in tech-enabled systems and teams to stay ahead of ever-evolving threats."
(Reporting by Elizabeth Howcroft; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus)
((Email: elizabeth.howcroft@thomsonreuters.com))