Revolut’s CFO leaves just two months after UK boss

Revolut said group CFO Mikko Salovaara left just two months after its UK chief executive – the latest departures from the fintech whose culture has drawn scrutiny from regulators.

Salovaara is leaving the London-based fintech “for personal reasons” after two years in the job, Revolut said on Thursday.

The company is still waiting for a banking license in the home market 28 months after the first application for one. While the application has been processed by the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority, Revolut has lost several of the top managers in its UK banking team. It has also faced an FCA-mandated review of its culture, which executives say has since improved.

Meanwhile, its auditor BDO warned in March that there was a risk of earnings being “materially misstated” in its delayed 2021 accounts.

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

His departure follows that of James Radford, who left Revolut in March after three years as CEO of its UK unit to lead mobile financial services at UK network operator Lycamobile.

“We wish [Radford] all the best in his new role at Lycamobile and we look forward to announcing his successor soon,” said Richard Holmes, Chairman of Revolut UK.

Salovaara joined the company as CFO in January 2021 after working as regional CFO at Kraft Heinz and as an investor at Elliott Advisors. He was promoted to the group’s CFO after four months at Revolut.

Revolut, which was valued at $33 billion in a 2021 funding round – a record for a privately owned British technology group – first filed for a UK banking license in January 2021. It received a European banking license from the Bank of Lithuania in December 2021.

A UK banking license will allow it to offer loans and other services to the more than 5.8 million customers it already has in the country. It will also act as a stamp of approval to help win other banking licenses in key markets.

Two months ago, Salovaara, who was not a central figure in the license application, told the FT that approval would come “any day now”. CEO Nik Storonsky previously said in November 2021 that he hoped to secure a banking license in early 2022.

The typical processing time for licenses to provide financial services in the UK is less than a year.

Last week, Storonsky blamed the latest banking crisis for the latest license delays, claiming the cause of the delay “is not really us”. The PRA and FCA did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Additional reporting by Laura Noonan in London