Wirecard Starts Partnership With AUTO1 Group, Europe's Leading Digital Automotive Platform

- The companies will develop new digital financial services for consumers

- Individual services via boon planned, Wirecard's consumer payment and banking platform

- Agreement facilitated in strategic partnership with SoftBank

- Wirecard will continue to explore collaboration opportunities across SoftBank's portfolio, which is comprised of companies operating in multitude of industries and sectors, including transportation, consumer goods, health tech and telecommunications

ASCHHEIM, Germany, July 18, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Wirecard, the global innovation leader for digital financial technology, enters into a strategic partnership with AUTO1 Group, Europe's leading digital automotive platform. The agreement was fostered through SoftBank's existing partnership with Wirecard and AUTO1 Group and will cover several products in the area of digital financial services.

Berlin-based AUTO1 Group revolutionized the way cars are traded by developing a fully digital platform that enables both private customers and professionals to trade cars seamlessly throughout Europe. Well known for its affiliated companies wirkaufendeinauto.de, AUTO1.com, Autohero and AUTO1 Fintech, the Group meanwhile offers several additional digital services along the value chain of car trading. AUTO1 Group reported a EUR 2.9 billion revenue in 2018, and boasts a car stock of more than 30,000 vehicles and more than 1 million private customers.

Wirecard and AUTO1 Group will further develop digital financial services together, offering consumers state-of-the-art services via boon, Wirecard's consumer payment and banking platform while professional partners will benefit from the partnership via AUTO1 Fintech, AUTO1 Group's digital loan specialist unit.

"As part of the continuous optimization of our service offering, we were looking for a knowledgeable partner with long-standing experience in both the financial and digital industries," said Hakan Koç, Co-founder and Co-CEO of AUTO1 Group. "We are confident that with Wirecard we can continue driving our global business forward at a fast pace by offering our various customer groups individualized digital financial solutions."

"We are excited to work with AUTO1 Group, a European market leader in the used car industry," added Georg von Waldenfels, EVP Group Business Development at Wirecard. "AUTO1 Group can leverage on our wide-ranging financial service offering. We look forward to working together to develop joint solutions for AUTO1 Group companies."

In the future, Wirecard is planning to build and provide digital financial services to further SoftBank's numerous portfolio companies, operating in multitude of industries and sectors, including transportation, consumer goods, health tech and telecommunications.

About Wirecard:

Wirecard (GER: WDI) is one of the world's fastest growing digital platforms in the area of financial commerce. We provide both business customers and consumers with a constantly expanding ecosystem of real-time value-added services built around innovative digital payments by using an integrated B2B2C approach. This ecosystem concentrates on the areas payment & risk, retail & transaction banking, loyalty & couponing, data analytics & conversion rate enhancement in all sales channels (online, mobile, ePOS). Wirecard operates regulated financial institutions in several key markets and holds issuing and acquiring licenses from all major payment and card networks. Wirecard AG is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (DAX and TecDAX, ISIN DE0007472060). Visit us on www.wirecard.com, follow us on Twitter @wirecard and on Facebook @wirecardgroup.

About AUTO1 Group

Founded in 2012, AUTO1 Group is Europe's leading digital automotive platform. AUTO1 Group is aimed primarily at the used car trade and offers over 55,000 professional partners the opportunity to access a diversified portfolio of more than 30,000 vehicles. By connecting buyers and sellers through technology, the company enables dealers and consumers to trade seamlessly throughout Europe. The company's well-known brands are AUTO1.com, wirkaufendeinauto.de and Autohero. AUTO1 Group matches supply and demand for used cars in over 30 countries. In 2018 the company sold more than 540,000 vehicles and achieved revenues of EUR 2.9 billion. 

Wirecard media contact:
Wirecard AG
Jana Tilz
Tel.: +49(0)89-4424-1363
Email: jana.tilz@wirecard.com 

AUTO1 Group media contact:
Lisa Langlois
Head of Communications
E-Mail: lisa.langlois@auto1-group.com 
Tel: +49-30 / 201-638-1900