(Reuters) -Worldline shares fell as much as 9% on Friday after the Brussels prosecutor office said it had opened an investigation into the Belgian entity of the French payments group over money
Belgian Authorities Investigate Worldline for Potential Money Laundering
By Gianluca Lo Nostro
(Reuters) -The Brussels Public Prosecutor's office said on Friday it had opened an investigation into potential money laundering activities at the Belgian unit of French payments processor Worldline.
The investigation follows articles published in Le Soir and De Standaard which said that the company had processed payments for companies involved in illegal activities, the Brussels Public prosecutor said in a statement.
The investigation has been entrusted to the Federal Judicial Police, it said.
Worldline said in a statement to Reuters it has taken note of the opening of the investigation and that it will cooperate with the authorities.
In response to the media reports, Worldline said on Wednesday that, since 2023, it has strengthened merchant risk controls and terminated non-compliant client relationships.
The probe is the first formal investigation to be launched after the allegations made by the European Investigative Collaborations network of 21 media outlets across Europe.
The economic and financial crime section of the Paris public prosecutor's office could not immediately be reached for comment.
Worldline, one of Europe's largest payments processors by transactions handled, is headquartered in France.
The company's shares fell as much as 10% on Friday morning after partially recovering on Thursday from a 38% slump the previous day that was their second-biggest one-day loss since 2023.
(Reporting by Gianluca Lo Nostro in Gdansk, Dominique Vidalon and Florence Loève in Paris; Editing by Matt Scuffham and Hugh Lawson)
