Revolut drafts in EY amid banking licence push
Revolut has tapped accountancy giant EY to replace BDO as its auditor as the firm pushes to secure its UK banking licence.
The UK fintech juggernaut said EY will act as the firm’s auditor for the financial year ending December 2026 after a formal bidding process.
This comes as Revolut expects to launch as a fully-fledged bank in the UK within 2025.
The appointment of the Big Four firm follows a fractured relationship between Revolut and BDO, after the latter cautioned in 2023 that it could not verify Revolut’s revenues for 2021 because of problems with the company’s internal controls.
In 2023, the Standard reported Revolut had considered switching auditors after its accounts were only signed off with a health warning. BDO’s report in March 2023 flagged concerns about the “completeness and occurrence” of £477m of the firm’s revenues.
BDO warned at the time that revenues “may be materially misstated”, citing IT controls issues
The $65bn (£48.6bn) fintech paid BDO £5.3m in 2024 for audit fees, according to its latest annual report.
Victor Stinga, chief financial officer at Revolut, said: “We’d like to extend our thanks to the entire BDO team for their valued partnership and contributions over the past seven years, supporting the business through a significant period of transformation and growth.”
Revolut’s regulation gripe
Revolut faced a three-year struggle to secure approval for its banking licence from regulators, finally receiving approval in July 2024.
City PM revealed last month the digital bank was set to miss the 12-month deadline for its mobilisation stage. The firm is the first to enter the process with over 500,000 customers.
A spokesperson for Revolut said: “We are progressing through the final stages of mobilisation and continue to work constructively with the PRA.
“Given Revolut’s global scale, this is the largest and most complex mobilisation ever undertaken in the UK.”
“We are looking forward to launching a fully regulated UK bank for our millions of UK customers this year.”
Revolut’s regulatory headaches have triggered a clash between Chancellor Rachel Reeves and the Bank of England as Reeves sought to get a meeting between the fintech and regulator’s in a bid to speed up the licence process.
But Andrew Bailey, governor of the central bank, blocked the meeting over concerns regulation should be independent from political interventions, according to the Financial Times.