Revolut: can the chancellor’s fintech favourite fix its image problem?

theguardian.com:

M inutes after Jeremy Hunt had finished speaking, Nikolay Storonsky collared the chancellor backstage. The 38-year-old co-founder of British financial technology company Revolut, wearing a tech bro’s uniform of jeans and a sweater, had been listening to Hunt set out his vision of the UK as “the world’s next Silicon Valley”, in a speech last month at the media group Bloomberg’s London headquarters.

The chancellor had praised Revolut as a “shining” success, saying the government was willing to back innovative companies “to the hilt”. After a quick introduction, the pair posed for a photo – which was swiftly posted by Storonsky’s team to one of Revolut’s Twitter accounts.

For Storonsky and his fast-growing business, much is riding on the government’s tech ambitions. He describes Revolut as the “Amazon of banking”. Its app offers everything from payment cards to holiday insurance and cryptocurrency trading. Everything, that is, apart from its own loans and deposit services to UK customers. More than two years have passed since Revolut first applied to the UK financial regulator for a licence – and it is still waiting for approval.

Revolut, which temporarily surpassed NatWest with a $33bn (£24bn) valuation in 2021, has yet to convince regulators – chiefly the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) – it should be trusted to hold deposits and start lending to consumers. Rumours are that may be set to change, but there has been no official confirmation.

Some believe the watchdog’s caution is wise. Revolut has faced a string of controversies: delayed filing of accounts, EU regulatory breaches and fines, Storonsky’s Russian ties and an aggressive work environment that has allegedly resulted in some key employees leaving the company.