CEO Davies Exits Revolut After One Year

Banking veteran Richard Davies is leaving his role as CEO of banking at digital-banking shop Revolut, one year after coming aboard to bring his seasoned skills to the startup, the Financial Times reported.

Davies’ exit comes just four days after the London-based operation announced $80 million in new funding.

Davies is leaving Revolut to take over the Allica Bank, which specializes in lending to businesses, according to the FT. He was quoted as saying: “In the aftermath of COVID, it’s such an important time for the U.K. small and medium-sized business market, and the chance to lead a newly-licensed bank that can be part of the solution is a great opportunity.”

The Telegraph reported that Davis is the latest in a string of senior executives to leave Revolut over the past year.

Davies is reportedly leaving Revolut on good terms. “It was a difficult decision … and I wouldn’t want to transition if we hadn’t already made massive progress,” he said.

A July 27 post on Davies’ LinkedIn account reads: “Pleased to be continuing also with Revolut in a non-exec advisory capacity – I’ve really enjoyed working with such an amazing range of talent. What a journey in the last year – leadership teams and operations in Ireland, the U.S., Australia and Singapore … rolling out Revolut’s banking operations in Europe … strengthening risk management and compliance … multiple new product launches … $580m in new equity … and customer base up around 2.5x!”

The cash infusion Revolut announced last week puts the company’s valuation at $5.5 billion. The investor was TSG Capital Partners, according to TechCrunch.

In February, Menlo, California-based TCV led a $500 million round. Other investors in Revolut include Index Ventures and a half-dozen additional firms.

Revolut was launched in 2015 by issuing prepaid debit cards that let customers conduct transactions in multiple currencies without incurring additional fees. The company recently expanded into the United States.

On July 15, Revolut began offering customers a way to buy cryptocurrency.

In June, the company announced an arrangement that would let American Express customers link their accounts to the Revolut smartphone app.