Revolut has secured a UK banking licence – with “restrictions” – more than three years after Britain’s most valuable fintech firm lodged its application with regulators.
The Bank of England / Prudential Regulatory Authority recorded the legal entity Revolut NewCo UK Ltd as a bank in its 'As at 1 August 2024' update. The UK Financial Conduct Authority register shows that Revolut NewCo UK was registered on 25 July 2024. The Revolut entity has been assigned reference number 981170
It is a milestone for the company, and will help pave the way for an eventual stock market listing, but it may still be some time before it can hold its customers’ deposits.
Tentative approval from the Bank of England means Revolut is in the mobilisation stage, where it will build up its banking operations.
The London-headquartered firm has waited years to get to this stage, having lodged its application for a UK banking licence in 2021.
The challenge, in part, was convincing regulators that Revolut had addressed a number of accounting issues and EU regulatory breaches, as well as reputational concerns, including an over-aggressive corporate culture. The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority also reportedly investigated the business in 2016 after a whistleblower claimed it was failing to conduct adequate money-laundering checks or properly flag suspect payments. That investigation was closed in 2017.
At the start of July this year, Nikolay Storonsky, Revolut’s CEO and co-founder, told CNBC that the company is feeling confident about securing its British bank license, after overcoming some key hurdles in its more than three-year-long journey toward gaining approval from regulators. At the time he said “Hopefully, sooner or later, we’ll get it,”. Regulators are “still working on it,” he added, but so far haven’t raised any outstanding concerns with the fintech.
CNBC reported that one key issue the company faced was with its share structure being inconsistent with the rulebook of the Prudential Regulation Authority, which is the regulatory body for the financial services industry that sits under the Bank of England.
Revolut has multiple classes of shares and some of those share classes previously had preferential rights attached. One conditions set by the Bank of England for granting Revolut its U.K. banking license, was to collapse its six classes of shares into ordinary shares.
Revolut has since resolved this, with the company striking a deal with Japanese tech investor SoftBank to transfer its shares in the firm to a unified class, relinquishing preferential rights, according to a person familiar with the matter. News of the resolution with SoftBank was first reported by the Financial Times.
The Bank of England / Prudential Regulatory Authority recorded the legal entity Revolut NewCo UK Ltd as a bank in its 'As at 1 August 2024' update. The UK Financial Conduct Authority register shows that Revolut NewCo UK was registered on 25 July 2024. The Revolut entity has been assigned reference number 981170
It is a milestone for the company, and will help pave the way for an eventual stock market listing, but it may still be some time before it can hold its customers’ deposits.
Tentative approval from the Bank of England means Revolut is in the mobilisation stage, where it will build up its banking operations.
The London-headquartered firm has waited years to get to this stage, having lodged its application for a UK banking licence in 2021.
The challenge, in part, was convincing regulators that Revolut had addressed a number of accounting issues and EU regulatory breaches, as well as reputational concerns, including an over-aggressive corporate culture. The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority also reportedly investigated the business in 2016 after a whistleblower claimed it was failing to conduct adequate money-laundering checks or properly flag suspect payments. That investigation was closed in 2017.
At the start of July this year, Nikolay Storonsky, Revolut’s CEO and co-founder, told CNBC that the company is feeling confident about securing its British bank license, after overcoming some key hurdles in its more than three-year-long journey toward gaining approval from regulators. At the time he said “Hopefully, sooner or later, we’ll get it,”. Regulators are “still working on it,” he added, but so far haven’t raised any outstanding concerns with the fintech.
CNBC reported that one key issue the company faced was with its share structure being inconsistent with the rulebook of the Prudential Regulation Authority, which is the regulatory body for the financial services industry that sits under the Bank of England.
Revolut has multiple classes of shares and some of those share classes previously had preferential rights attached. One conditions set by the Bank of England for granting Revolut its U.K. banking license, was to collapse its six classes of shares into ordinary shares.
Revolut has since resolved this, with the company striking a deal with Japanese tech investor SoftBank to transfer its shares in the firm to a unified class, relinquishing preferential rights, according to a person familiar with the matter. News of the resolution with SoftBank was first reported by the Financial Times.
Who is in charge of the UK bank?
As at the date of its authorisation the following people are recorded by the UK FCA as being involved in the activities of Revolut NewCo UK:
Further reading:
https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/jul/25/revolut-receives-uk-banking-licence-after-three-year-wait
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/07/02/revolut-boss-confident-on-uk-bank-license-approval-after-record-profit.html
- Thomas Charles Wallace TCW00665 Approved by regulator SMF4 Chief Risk
- Vincent Jacques Louis Alcaix VXJ00050 Approved by regulator SMF2 Chief Finance
- Benjamin John Ellis BXE00058 Approved by regulator SMF16 Compliance Oversight
- William Richard Holmes WXH00105 Approved by regulator SMF9 Chair of the Governing Body
- Ian Douglas Wilson IXW00113 Approved by regulator SMF10 Chair of the Risk Committee
- Rajan Kapoor RXK01135 Approved by regulator SMF11 Chair of the Audit Committee
- Vladyslav Yatsenko VXY01026 Approved by regulator SMF7 Group Entity Senior Manager
- Nikolay Storonsky NXS01512 Approved by regulator SMF7 Group Entity Senior Manager
- Siddhartha Jajodia SXJ00336 Approved by regulator SMF7 Group Entity Senior Manager
- Pierre Decote PXD02033 Approved by regulator SMF7 Group Entity Senior Manager
- Carlos Selonke De Souza CXS47532 Approved by regulator SMF24 Chief Operations
- Francesca Carlesi FXC01524 Approved by regulator SMF1 Chief Executive
- Chaitanya Ravilla CXR00076 Approved by regulator SMF17 Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO)
- Nicholas Patrick Smith NXS00636 Approved by regulator SMF18 Other Overall Responsibility
Further reading:
https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/jul/25/revolut-receives-uk-banking-licence-after-three-year-wait
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/07/02/revolut-boss-confident-on-uk-bank-license-approval-after-record-profit.html
