The UK risk and compliance department at Revolut has been hit by several high-profile resignations in recent months as the fintech continues its application for a British banking licence.
First reported by City A.M., five senior members of the Revolut team in the UK have left the company. They include the UK head of regulatory compliance, Justine Wootton; the UK chief risk officer, Victoria Stubbs; and the UK money laundering reporting officer Mathew Seneviratne.
Responding to the resignations, Revolut said: “Over the last few months, these individuals have decided to move on from Revolut.
“It’s not uncommon in highly entrepreneurial companies that people join for phases of growth, and some decide to move on when the time is right for them.”
When asked about the number of remaining staff in the compliance department and the timeline for replacing the executives who resigned, a Revolut spokesperson told UKTN: “We have a strong legal, risk and compliance function of over 300 people, and we take our risk responsibilities incredibly seriously.”
Revolut spars with regulator
Revolut, which provides a range of banking services along with stock trading and cryptocurrency exchange, currently operates in the UK with an electronic money licence.
This means Revolut can offer payment services but cannot manage customer funds or market itself as a bank.
In November last year the London-based challenger bank said it hoped to have attained a UK banking licence by the start of 2022.
That is yet to happen. Revolut co-founder and CEO Nikolay Storonsky in July criticised what he described as the “principle-driven” style of regulation in the UK.
Speaking at the CityUK summit, Storonsky said that recent tensions between regulators and Revolut’s compliance teams had been causing problems at the company. The CEO criticised the ambiguous “grey zones” in UK regulation that he claims stifles progress.
“We applied for 48 licences across the globe, and we received 44, and three of the licences that we haven’t received are actually in the UK,” Storonsky said.
Revolut has had difficulties with some of the more recent financial ventures being incorporated into its all-in-one service.
The firm sought to be registered to facilitate the trading of cryptocurrencies, however, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) would only grant a temporary licence.
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