Revolut Chair Not Ready to Commit to Going Public in UK

Revolut’s chair is not ready to commit to an initial public offering (IPO) in London.

Speaking to the Financial Times (FT) Tuesday (July 2), Martin Gilbert praised pending changes to the rules for listing on the U.K. market.

“All the moves [regulators] are making are good, they’re allowing founder-led companies like Revolut to list here rather than just have no choice,” Gilbert said. “But again let’s see how it all pans out, the proof will definitely be what happens in the future.”

He added that Revolut was at least a year away from an IPO, with the company planning to “keep an open mind” on where that listing would happen.

The report notes his comments mark a change from the views put forth by Revolut CEO Nikolay Storonsky, who has ruled out an IPO in London. Earlier this year, the company’s U.K. CEO, Francesca Carlesi, had indicated a London listing was still possible.

“The U.K. is our home and is also one where a lot of our investors come from,” Carlesi said. “We know that companies are always better off to list where their biggest market is.”

But she had added that going public was not her immediate focus. Instead Carlesi said she wants to help Revolut deal with issues with accounts, controls management and culture as it embarked on its third year of trying to get a U.K. banking license.

Gilbert’s interview with the FT came the same day that Revolut released its annual report for 2023, showing its revenues increasing by 95%: from $1.1 billion in 2022 to $2.2 billion last year.

In addition, Revolut’s profit before tax came to a record $545 million, with the company signing 12 million new customers during 2023 — the FinTech’s third profitable year — bringing its customer base to 45 million as of last month.

“We remain committed to our ongoing U.K. banking license application in addition to bringing the Revolut app to new markets and customers around the world,” Storonsky said in a news release accompanying the report.

“Even as we reached 45 million global retail customers six months into 2024, Revolut remains poised for exponential growth in 2024 and beyond, continuing to redefine the financial services landscape as we’ve known it.”