By Cristina Roca 
 

Germany's financial markets authority is evaluating whether Wirecard AG Chief Executive Markus Braun violated insider trading rules, a BaFin spokeswoman told Dow Jones Newswires on Friday.

The German payments company's head bought 2.5 million euros ($2.8 million) worth of shares in the company on Thursday, according to a filing submitted by the company on the same day.

The purchase took place within a 30-day closed period ahead of the release of Wirecard's 2019 report. During this period, a trading ban applies for company managers.

"We are evaluating if the transaction actually violated the trading ban," BaFin said in a statement. "There are some exceptions, for instance for employee share purchase plans that have been set up ahead of the closed period."

Individuals who violate the trading ban can be fined up to EUR500,000, while for institutions the fine goes up to EUR1 million, BaFin said.

Wirecard reported preliminary results for the last quarter of 2019 in February, but has pushed back the publication of its full results for 2019 to June 18.

"The share purchase is not legally objectionable," MB Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, which holds Mr. Braun's stake in Wirecard, said in an emailed statement. "The requirements of capital market law were complied with in full."

Wirecard declined to comment.

Write to Cristina Roca at cristina.roca@dowjones.com; @_cristinaroca

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 29, 2020 11:37 ET (15:37 GMT)