>
Banks, fintechs and shadow banks are all about trust, so it’s never good when published bills get delayed.
Tax campaigner Dan Neidle rightly asks why Revolut, valued at £27.5bn at its latest fundraising, is breaking the law by failing to file its accounts for the financial year ending September 30, 2022 on time.
Not surprisingly, the slowdown has set alarm bells ringing given the challenger bank’s past involvement in the ailing bitcoin sector. Due to the failures of former heroes Greensill, Wirecard and FTX, a shadow has fallen over the entire thriving fintech sector.
A veil has fallen over the entire thriving fintech sector due to the failures of former heroes Greensill, Wirecard and FTX
The delay in releasing Revolut accounts seems to be more prosaic. The bank, which claims to have more than 25 million customers worldwide, has been caught in the crossfire between its accountants BDO and the financial watchdog, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC).
The scrutiny of BDO clients has been “called up” by the regulator after a series of incidents among its clients, including homeless investment group Home REIT, concierge company Quintessentially and Revolution Beauty.
Special measures require accounting firms to provide a series of detailed reports on how key metrics in corporate accounts are arrived at.
BDO is in good company after KPMG found itself in a similar position following faulty audits at Co-op Bank, Carillion and Conviviality, among others.
In the Revolut case, it is believed that BDO has now largely provided the reports and data requested by the FRC and that the long-delayed bills should be released in the next two weeks.
They are expected to demonstrate that Revolut has been profitable for the past two years. The majority of revenues have been generated by fast currency conversion services, which offer currency to customers at ‘spot’ rates.
One of the concerns about Revolut is that even years after it was founded in London by Nikolay Storonsky and Vlad Yatsenko, it still hasn’t received Bank of England approval and operates under a Lithuanian banking license.
Reassurance about its stability was provided by the presence at the helm of City grandee Martin Gilbert, formerly of Aberdeen Asset Management.
Revolut continues to be closely watched by the bank as it seeks authorization with restrictions, or ‘AwR’, prior to obtaining a full banking license. If the accounting hurdle is cleared, the first Old Lady approval could come through later this spring.
Hope springs forth forever.
Good value
My son Gabriel recently commented that of all the funds he owns, Fundsmith is the only one showing profit.
Disappointingly, founder Terry Smith’s fee ends up in Mauritius, almost certainly beyond the reach of HMRC.
There is a lesson for Keir Starmer as he sees an estimated £3.5bn from the abolition of non-domiciled tax status. Labor is on a dangerous course unless the aim is to drive British fighters abroad.
Yes, 2022 was a bad year for Fundsmith and no one wants 14 percent of their savings wiped out.
As long as it’s not the start of a trend, Smith’s followers, who have seen a 478.2 percent gain over the past 13 years, won’t grumble.
Smith again chooses to make Unilever a major part of his letter to investors and seems unashamed that the FTSE 100 naughty actually outperformed Fundsmith last year.
Showing no mercy, he describes the explanation for Alan Jope’s imminent departure as CEO as coming from Miracle On 34th Street and pokes fun at Lux’s “awakened” marketing.
Nevertheless, as a 13-year-old shareholder of the Marmite and Ben & Jerry behemoth, he’s not up for selling.
If only such long-term thinking were more common among asset managers in the UK.
Provide assistance
The financial communications industry in Great Britain is an important export product to the rest of the world.
So congratulations to Andrew Grant and colleagues at Tulchan on landing a rewarding £70 million deal linking it to clean-up US company Teneo, which is backed by private equity giant CVC.
It would have been better if the traffic had gone the other way. But when it comes to stocks, New York’s lure is irresistible.
No one should underestimate the prospect of clashing egos when two people’s ventures are brought together. Well worth a look.
Some links in this article may be affiliate links. If you click on it, we may earn a small commission. That helps us fund This Is Money and use it for free. We do not write articles to promote products. We do not allow any commercial relationship to compromise our editorial independence.