Revolut’s CFO Mikko Salovaara has resigned from the company citing “personal reasons”, the latest in a string of setbacks for the fintech as it pushes to become a global ‘super app’ and secure a UK banking licence.
Salovaara joined the neobank in January 2021 as VP of finance and was promoted to group CFO just four months later. His resignation comes months after auditor BDO said it was unable to independently verify three-quarters of the fintech company’s revenue in its delayed 2021 accounts.
Commenting on his departure, Salovaara said: “I am grateful for the opportunity to serve as group CFO at Revolut and remain confident in the firm’s future success.”
Nikolay Storonsky, CEO at Revolut, added: “I thank Mikko for his contribution and wish him well on his next steps.”
Salovaara’s departure and BDO’s damning feedback are the latest blows to the fintech unicorn.
‘In the garden with my shotgun’
This weekend, The Telegraph reported that Revolut’s ex-CEO James Radford, who resigned from the business earlier this year, accidentally texted an unhappy customer saying he would be waiting for him “in the garden with my shotgun.”
The text exchange, seen by The Telegraph, was started by the customer, who sent messages and voicemails to Radford’s personal phone complaining about his case.
Radford was the subject of a formal complaint in March, the month before he left the company – although it is claimed he departed for unrelated reasons to take up a new role.
Revolut is also still awaiting its UK banking licence. Despite a typical turnaround time for a new licence being under a year, Revolut has been waiting over two years for approval after making its first application in January 2021.
A full UK banking licence would enable Revolut to provide loans and other financial services to its UK customers. It received a European banking licence from the Bank of Lithuania in December 2021.
Earlier this month, Revolut’s co-founders took aim at UK regulators, calling the process “long and tiring”. Storonsky told The Times: “You wait for emails or letters for months. This is not the business environment to operate in the modern world.”
Revolut was valued at $33bn in 2021, making it one of Europe’s highest-valued private companies, but its valuation has since been halved by Schroders, an investor in the company.
Despite its ongoing hurdles, Revolut is continuing to roll out new features. From 30 May this year, the fintech will offer consumer loans to its two million customers in France. Revolut has already launched similar offerings in markets including Ireland, Lithuania and Romania.
The post Revolut hit by fresh setbacks in ‘super app’ push appeared first on UKTN | UK Tech News.
