Revolut’s chief financial officer leaves digital bank after two years

LONDON — Revolut’s chief financial officer, Mikko Salovaara, is leaving the digital bank after two years, citing personal reasons.

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

With a $33 billion valuation, privately-held Revolut is one of Europe’s most valuable fintech companies. It offers no-fee current accounts, foreign exchange, stock and cryptocurrency trading, insurance, and travel bookings, among other services.

Revolut’s CEO, Nik Storonsky, said, “I thank Mikko for his contribution and wish him well on his next steps.”

A company spokesperson told CNBC that Salovaara resigned and has not been fired. He said it would be inappropriate to divulge the personal reasons that have led to his departure.

The Revolut spokesperson said Salovaara’s decision was unrelated to concerns flagged by auditor BDO about the company’s financial accounts.

In March, BDO said that it was unable to independently verify three quarters of the £636 million ($795 million) of revenue reported by the company in its delayed 2021 accounts.

In its latest annual report, Revolut posted its first-ever full year of profitability, posting a pretax profit of £59.1 million on revenue of £636.2 million. In 2020, Revolut recorded a pretax loss of £205 million.

The company was late to producing its accounts to the U.K. company register, Companies House, in time for a Dec. 31 deadline. They were finally signed off by BDO, Revolut’s auditors, in February.

A Revolut spokesperson said the company had a “strong finance” team in place and would announce an interim head to succeed Salovaara in due course.

Revolut has long been pursuing a U.K. bank license. The company began its application for a banking license in 2021, and has complained of delays in the process with CEO Storonsky recently accusing regulators of slowing down its application.

In an interview with The Times published last week, Storonsky said that it is “hard to do business in the U.K.,” adding that the company would never consider a listing in London.

“In the U.K. there are higher taxes to pay and an extremely bureaucratic regulator,” Storonsky told the publication.

He and co-founder Vlad Yatsenko said that complex and unclear regulatory requirements had prevented them from competing globally and the U.K. had become a less attractive place for talented people since Brexit and the Covid pandemic, according to The Times.

The U.K. government and the Financial Conduct Authority were not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.

Salovaara’s decision to quit has raised questions about the company’s path toward an eventual stock market listing. Revolut recently had its valuation cut around 46% by the asset manager Schroders, reflecting the grim investor mood surrounding the fintech market.

Correction: Vlad Yatsenko is co-founder of Revolut. An earlier version misspelled his name.