Revolut is close to receiving a UK banking licence despite its auditor…

Revolut is close to receiving a UK banking licence despite its auditor highlighting major problems with its accounts.

In a long-delayed report, the £28billion firm said it made its first profit in 2021 as turnover tripled in the cryptocurrency boom.

But in a huge embarrassment for the financial services giant, auditor BDO said £477million of revenues - three-quarters of its £636million turnover - could not be venmo verified account and may have been mis-stated.

In the spotlight: Revolut is close to receiving a UK banking licence despite its auditor highlighting major problems with its accounts

Despite that, Revolut believes it will still be granted a UK banking licence ‘imminently', potentially within days, by regulators at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA).

The news - first revealed by The Mail on Sunday last week - sparked concern among MPs and industry experts. 

Baroness Altmann, a former pensions minister, said: ‘If the regulators decide not to press the pause button on granting a licence, they need to give a clear public explanation of why they have confidence in going ahead.'

Will Wragg, Conservative MP and co-chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on banking, said: ‘It is extraordinary that a firm of Revolut's size, and a financial technology company, has had questions raised about its internal IT system and that its auditor is unable to verify the source of three-quarters of its profits.

‘Being granted a banking licence comes with huge responsibility and failing to account for almost £500million is not exactly small fry.

‘I would urge the regulators to think very carefully about this.'

Revolut's accounts for 2021 were due to be published by the end of September.

This was delayed until December 31, a deadline it missed.

Yesterday, BDO said the group's IT and accounting systems were not sophisticated enough to track its revenues for most of 2021 when the company was growing rapidly.

This meant the auditors could not confirm which parts of the business three-quarters of the revenue came from - putting it at risk of ‘material mis-statement'.

The error was put right in late 2021, a source said, and it is not expected to be a problem again. The source said regulators were