Algbra founder sought Wirecard-linked funding and arms tech deal before fintech launch

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Algbra founder's Wirecard contacts

Highlights

WhatsApp messages show Algbra founder Zeiad Idris offered to help Jan Marsalek raise a $2.75bn fund for Russian military technology in 2018, though the weapons fund never launched.
Wirecard began paying New World Capital Advisors, linked to Idris, a £490,000 retainer in 2019 to develop a global Islamic digital bank, and Marsalek participated in early Algbra discussions.
Documented ties between Idris and Marsalek connect rising UK fintech Algbra to individuals central to the Wirecard fraud, raising concerns for sector credibility despite £670mn in processed payments and FCA regulation.

Messages and funding talks before Algbra launch

As reported by the Financial Times, WhatsApp messages show Idris was in regular contact with Marsalek and in 2018 offered to help raise a $2.75bn fund to acquire Russian military technology for overseas sales. The proposed weapons fund is never launched, and Idris says he has had no contact with Marsalek since the Austrian became a fugitive.

The newspaper says the relationship also included visits to Marsalek’s Munich mansion and discussions linked to the business that later becomes Algbra. In one exchange cited from the messages, Idris says a former colleague warned him to stay away from Marsalek before adding that he was "apparently a bad boy".

The Financial Times investigation also says Marsalek participated in early-stage discussions around the creation of the future fintech. Contracts seen by the newspaper show Wirecard in 2019 started paying New World Capital Advisors, a subsidiary of London-based New World Group, toward a £490,000 retainer to develop a business plan for a global Islamic digital bank.

At NWCA, Idris took personal charge of the project and acted as the main contact for Marsalek, while also engaging with IMS Capital Partners, described as Marsalek’s family office, over a possible anchor investment. In March 2020, IMS discussed using an offshore trust structure for a large investment in Algbra in order to avoid burdensome know your customer questions, and another push for investment came in early June 2020, weeks before Wirecard collapsed and Marsalek fled.

Implications for UK fintech credibility

Algbra says it has had no relationship with Marsalek or Wirecard since it started trading. Company records show the business is first incorporated in May 2020, launches to consumers the following year and later becomes regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority.

The company markets itself as an ethical online bank for Muslims in the UK, the Middle East and Asia, issues cards through Mastercard and counts former UK chancellor Philip Hammond among its advisers. It says it has processed more than £670mn in digital payments and serves thousands of business and consumer clients.

Idris has made ethics and integrity central to Algbra’s public identity, writing in the company’s 2024 annual report that its founding principles sit at the intersection of ESG and Shariah compliance. The disclosures are likely to raise questions for the UK fintech sector because they connect a fast-growing regulated start-up to a figure later exposed as central to Wirecard’s fraud and to Russian intelligence activity.

Idris tells the Financial Times he knows Marsalek from earlier roles at The Capital Partnership and Libya Holdings Group while helping raise funds for investments. He says that during that relationship he came to understand Marsalek had deep ties to Russia and involvement with the Wagner mercenary group, while a 2017 testimonial written by Idris also cites Marsalek as a well-funded investor interested in Libya-related deals.

In our earlier article on the UK’s fiscal credibility under the new government, we explained that markets are likely to judge Chancellor John Healey’s early choices through the lens of trust and transparency. We noted that headline-friendly measures and off-balance-sheet funding ideas could undermine confidence if they blur the true state of public finances and weaken the UK’s economic framework.

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