Revolut to the first annual profit. Fintech exceeds 27 million customers worldwide

Revolut hits its first annual profit. After a long wait, the British online bank has published its financial statements for 2021, closed with a profit of 26 million pounds (about 29 million euros). This is the first positive result in the eight-year history of Revolut which boasts over 27 million customers, spread over 30 countries, and has recently passed the threshold of one million users in Italy.
In achieving this goal fintech has received a significant contribution from cryptocurrencies. Commissions collected from the sale of Bitcoin and other digital currencies were responsible for about a third of revenues, which tripled compared to 2020 and reached 636 million pounds (716 million euros). Precisely due to the subsequent collapse of cryptocurrencies, the pace of growth of Revolut slowed down in 2022: the turnover of the challenger bank increased by 30% to 850 million pounds (956 million euros).
However, the Bdo reviewers have raised some doubts about the 2021 numbers. The experts stressed in the notes to the financial statements that they were unable to independently audit about two thirds of the turnover declared by Revolut. Bdo notably found flaws in the bank’s IT systems which prevented it from verifying £477m of receipts and could not guarantee their “completeness and existence”. However, the online bank has ensured that it has already remedied it during 2021.
However, achieving profit remains a significant milestone for Revolut, whose founder, Nik Storonsky, had previously defined profit as not a priority. After all, with 1.7 billion raised by investors and a valuation of 33 billion, the challenger bank had chosen to embark on a growth path at any cost, relying on the seemingly infinite availability of investors.

In recent months, however, the market has changed profoundly. The sudden hike in interest rates has stalled venture capital investments, making it more difficult for startups to raise money for growth. As a result, Revolut and other fintechs have had to scale back their expansion plans to reduce expenses and focus on balancing costs and revenues.