Revolut’s CFO is leaving the company after two years, the company says

• London fintech Revolut’s CFO is leaving the company after two years in the role.
• Mikko Salovaara’s departure was due to “personal reasons”, Revolut said on Thursday.
• The SoftBank-backed neobank has been trying to get a UK banking license since its first application in 2021.

The chief financial officer of London fintech Revolut is leaving the company after two years in the role due to “personal reasons”, the company said on Thursday.

Mikko Salovaara, who previously held a number of high-profile financial roles at Kraft Heinz, joined the startup as CFO in January 2021, six months before it raised an $800 million Series E round that valued it at $33 billion.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to serve as Group CFO of Revolut and remain confident in the firm’s future success,” Salovaara said in a statement.

Revolut CEO Nik Storonsky said: “I thank Mikko for his contribution and wish him well in his next step.”

The fintech, which counts the likes of SoftBank and Tiger Global among its backers, enables users to spend money in 150 currencies at a real-time rate without fees through a debit card. The hugely popular app also offers bank accounts and savings options as well as the ability to trade stocks and cryptocurrencies.

Salovaara is the latest in a string of senior executives to leave the company over the past 18 months after a number of compliance and regulatory staff left the business.

Revolut is in the process of securing a UK banking license after applying only in 2021. The company said it was in the “advanced stage of the application”, in its latest set of annual accounts published in March. In an interview with CityAM at the time, Salovaara said the neobank’s banking license was “nourishing”, but nothing has since been confirmed.

The business has had a full banking license in Europe since 2021, having started life as an e-money institution in Lithuania in 2020. Storonsky recently suggested that ongoing banking turmoil could be behind the company’s delays.

Revolut has also been hurt by repeated run-ins with regulators over its accounts. The company repeatedly missed deadlines to submit its 2021 results following a push for stronger internal controls from auditor BDO following a reprimand from the Financial Reporting Council, the Financial Times reported.

The company has also recently seen the value drop to $17.7 billion in the accounts of one of its backers, Schroders Capital Global Innovation Trust, a British listed investment fund. Schroders invested 10.1 million pounds ($12.5 million) in the company’s Series E funding round in 2021, but has since marked down its position to 5.4 million pounds, a 46% decline, according to its latest accounts.

Revolut posted a net profit of £26.3m ($31.8m) for the full year 2021 – its first annual profit – in its latest financial accounts. The company recorded a significant increase in revenue during the year, rising to £636 million ($767.7 million) from £220 million ($265.6 million) a year earlier.