Revolut being accepted for a full UK banking licence was meant to be the digital bank shattering the glass ceiling, but are previous risk control concerns coming back to haunt it?
Revolut’s wait for a UK banking licence appeared to be over in July 2024 when the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) accepted its application. But the process remains ongoing.
The PRA and Bank of England remain cautious, with officials reportedly still raising concerns over Revolut’s risk controls and governance. Regulators are also urging the fintech to align its risk management framework with its rapidly growing global footprint.
According to The Financial Times, citing three people familiar with the matter, Revolut must demonstrate that its risk infrastructure is robust in the UK and across the 40 markets it is currently operating in.
With a burgeoning customer base (65 million globally and growing at a rate of 1 million customers every 17 days), the PRA – Revolut’s lead UK regulator – is still wary of its ability to safeguard customers if it becomes a fully licenced bank due to the “robustness” of its controls.
The PRA is responsible for managing and assessing risks of incumbent licenced UK banks. The regulator also oversees the monitoring of IT systems and the capital banks have in place.
Revolut is still in the ‘mobilisation phase’ of the UK banking licence process. This allows limited traditional banking measures, such as a £50,000 cap on deposits, but also states a bank must provide a 12 month report to regulators that demonstrates sufficient IT systems, governance protocols and risk management frameworks.
One of the primary benefits of a full banking licence is that Revolut will be able to offer customers lending services and loans. UK outstanding consumer credit loans hit £233bn in October 2024, a £12.9bn increase from 2023 numbers.
At Revolut’s new office launch event at Canary Wharf on October 13, CEO Nik Storonsky stated it is the company’s “number one priority” to secure the full banking licence.
“When we started international expansion many years ago, we tried to short-cut our banking licences and apply for lighter licences, e-money licences, FX licences, payment licences, and it was a worse product,” said Storonsky.
Cause for concern?
Revolut’s risk controls came into question earlier this year after a Which? report found its customers lodged 3,242 Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud complaints, more than any other UK bank.
Despite these 2024 figures coming before the new UK rules around APP fraud were implemented in October 2024, it was the second consecutive year Revolut topped the list for most fraud complaints by its customers.
The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) also received 1,333 cases of other fraud and scam Revolut complaints in 2025 alone, not including APP fraud complaints.
Revolut continues to be one of the largest banks in the UK to top fraud complaints, which may only add to the PRA’s concerns over whether it can have its risk controls in order to become a fully licenced bank.
A move into travel e-commerce
Putting its licence headaches aside, Revolut continues to make strides within the sector.
On October 14, the fintech announced it has acquired AI-powered travel agent startup Swifty for an undisclosed fee.
Revolut said it aims to utilise Swifty’s proprietary AI technology to enhance its customer loyalty and lifestyle products for its growing international customer base.
Swifty’s AI agent is designed to autonomously handle the travel booking process to select flights and hotels, as well as handling payments and invoicing. The AI technology will also complement Revolut’s stack of AI financial assistant large language models (LLMs).
“This acquisition strengthens our position at the intersection of finance, AI and lifestyle,” said Christopher Guttridge, Head of Loyalty at Revolut.
“Through this move we’re gaining both talent and expertise in AI driven travel solutions, which will help us deliver even more personalised and seamless experiences to our customers.”
