Francesca Carlesi, a financial veteran with a PhD in banking and finance, has been appointed as the new CEO of Revolut's UK division. Revolut, known as the UK's most valuable start-up with a $33 billion valuation and aspirations to become a global financial super-app, is currently navigating through some regulatory challenges.
Carlesi will be leading the firm's efforts to secure a UK banking license, an application process that has been ongoing since January 2021. The approval has been delayed due to regulatory scrutiny stemming from issues with verifying 75% of the £636 million revenue in the long-delayed 2021 accounts. This marks the second consecutive year that Revolut's accounts have been delayed.
The company's CFO, Mikko Salovaara, departed in May amid these revenue verification issues. Carlesi takes over from James Radford, who resigned in March after three years at the helm of Revolut NewCo, the subsidiary that applied for the banking license.
Carlesi brings extensive experience to her new role, having held senior positions at Deutsche Bank (ETR:DBKGn), Barclays (LON:BARC), McKinsey, and Bridgepoint Capital and leading fintech Molo. She joins Paroma Chatterjee and Yoko Makiguchi as one of the few female leaders at Revolut.
This leadership change follows Kitty Ussher, former economic secretary to the UK treasury, stepping down from her non-executive director role on Revolut's UK banking entity board to join Barclays as Managing Director, Head of Strategic Policy Development.
Revolut currently serves nearly eight million customers in the UK. As CEO, Carlesi will be tasked with steering the company through its current challenges and working towards its goal of becoming a global financial super-app.
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