Revolut wins full crypto authorisation from City regulator
Revolut has secured authorisation to provide full crypto services in the UK after months of wrangling with the City regulator as it waited on a temporary register.
The London headquartered fintech firm had been granted temporary permission by the Financial Conduct Authority after its application was not deemed up to scratch the first time round. It was among twelve firms to be given a grace period to tighten their application and ensure processes were up to standard before receiving full authorisation.
In a statement today, the FCA confirmed the firm had been removed from the temporary register after strengthening its money laundering controls.
“As with firms that were on the temporary register, firms that are on the full register are required to comply with the money laundering regulations,” an FCA spokesperson said in a statement.
“Revolut has agreed to a number of directions designed to ensure it has the systems and controls to meet the requirements of the money laundering regulations.”
Revolut was the last firm held on the watchdog’s temporary register and now joins 37 other firms to have received full authorisation in the UK.
The fintech firm, headed by founder Nikolay Storonsky, has been looking to ramp up its crypto operations and said today it was “delighted” to have got the authorisation as a crypto asset firm.
In an interview with Morning Wire in June, Storonsky said Revolut had gone “full in” on crypto and the firm has boosted its crypto team’s headcount by around 200 per cent this year alone.
The firm has been rocked by churn in its regulatory and compliance teams however as it angles in on a full banking licence in the UK. City A.M, revealed in July that five Revolut executives quit the firm in a slew of senior resignation, including its UK chief risk officer and UK Money Laundering Reporting Officer.
Revolut Group Holdings, the group’s parent company is due to file accounts on Friday, but the firm has faced external pressures after an audit by accountancy firm BDO was found to be flawed.