Revolut finance chief quits amid controversies

Revolut has lost its finance chief in the latest blow to the digital challenger bank as it grapples with a string of controversies.

Peter O’Higgins left the company at the beginning of the year, the company confirmed on Friday, ending a near three-year stint as chief financial officer.

It comes as Revolut faces accusations it broke banking rules after the lender switched off an automatic system that stops suspicious money transactions on its platform for three months last year.

Mr O’Higgins said that the time had come to pass on the baton to someone with global banking experience.

“As Revolut begins to scale globally and applies to become a bank in multiple jurisdictions, the time has come to pass the reigns over to someone who has global retail banking experience at this level,” he said in a statement.

Revolut, which is valued around 1.7 billion US dollars (£1.3 billion), has grown rapidly over the past year and now boasts over 3 million customers.

However, the bank’s hiring and corporate culture has come under fire after Wired magazine reported that the company asked job applicants to work for free and demanded staff work long hours, including the weekends.

Revolut also made headlines recently after its “single-shaming” advertising campaign was referred to the Financial Conduct Authority.

Meanwhile, Revolut has also been forced to deny that it has links to the Kremlin following accusations by a Lithuanian politician that the company’s boss, Nik Storonsky, is interfering in the country’s politics.

Mr Storonsky’s said of the finance chief’s departure: “As someone who has worked side by side with Peter for almost three years, he has been absolutely pivotal to our success, and I cannot begin to express my gratitude for his commitment, enthusiasm and accomplishments to date.”

Separately, rival digital lender Monzo has also lost its chief financial officer Gary Dolman, who is retiring.

He will be replaced by Alwyn Jones, who joined Monzo from Barclays.