Revolut CEO Blames Banking Crisis For UK License Delay – FT

Nik Storonsky, the CEO of Revolut, says that the fintech’s two-year effort to get a UK banking license is being slowed down by “extra cautious” officials who are scared by recent events at Silicon Valley Bank and Credit Suisse.

At the beginning of March, Mikko Salovaara, the chief revenue officer of Revolut, said that the unusually long process of getting a license was almost over and that it would arrive “any day now.”

But in an interview with the Financial Times, CEO Storonsky now says, “In the end, it’s not us, it’s the current banking crisis that makes regulators more careful.”

Two people who know how the license process works told the FT that the current trouble “would not affect” the application.

The application was sent in by Revolut in January 2021. The process usually takes about a year, but the Financial Conduct Authority is said to be worried about auditing, compliance, and problems with the company’s culture.

People who know how the approval process works told the FT that progress on the application has slowed down or almost stopped.

The delay is costing Revolut money because it keeps it from offering new products like loans and hurts its business in the US, Canada, and Australia, where officials are watching how the company is treated in the UK.