Revolut annual losses double as admin costs on risk, compliance and controls explode

London-based digital banking app Revolut has recorded a £200 million (€233 million) annual loss in 2020, doubling compared to the year before as administrative costs rose from the company’s investment in risk, compliance and controls.

These administrative costs more than doubled, from £125 million (€146 million) in 2019 to £266 million (€311 million) in 2020, Revolut reported, overtaking growth in revenues at the company expanded into new markets.

The start-up is one of Britain’s biggest fintech success stories, attracting more than 15 million retail customers with products including currency exchange, debit cards and stock trading.

Its uptake has fuelled massive expansion, and the company is set to apply for its US banking license this year, and establish a new global support hub in India, where it will hire around 300 staff.

According to its report, Revolut’s revenue grew by 57 per cent in 2020, adjusted to include fair value gains on cryptocurrency assets.

“As the extraordinary circumstances of 2020 drove the trend towards digital financial management we continued to innovate for customers to make their financial lives easier and accelerate daily use”, commented Revolut Founder and CEO Nikolay Storonsky.

“We launched 24 new retail and business products, expanded into the US, Japan and Australia and launched banking services in Lithuania, all while significantly increased our profitability”, he added.

Indeed, with Revolut’s launch in new markets, customer growth seems to be increasing, coming in 45 per cent higher than it was in 2019.

Despite the company’s aggressive expansion, the UK is still its biggest market by a notable margin.

In 2020, 88.4 per cent of the company’s non-adjusted revenue related to its activities, with the European Economic Area (EEA) representing 10.2 per cent of revenue.