Bank of England chief says no rift with UK government as Revolut licence delay draws scrutiny

LONDON — Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey told CNBC determination hasn't been a "falling out" with the U.K. authorities implicit delays to fintech elephantine Revolut's long-awaited slope license.

Last week, the Financial Times reported that a gathering arranged by British Finance Minister Rachel Reeves with Revolut and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) — an limb of the BOE that oversees banks — was cancelled aft an involution from Bailey.

Authorizing Revolut arsenic a afloat licensed slope has go an important contented for the U.K. government, peculiarly arsenic cardinal figures successful the tech manufacture person challenged taxation changes that impact the wealthy.

However, successful an interrogation with CNBC's Ritika Gupta connected Thursday, Bailey denied immoderate proposition that relations betwixt the BOE and Treasury had soured implicit delays to Revolut's slope licence support process.

"There's been nary falling retired betwixt [Reeves] and I connected this, oregon so connected anything," helium said. "Actually, we person precise bully relations, and I deliberation some the Bank and the Treasury person made that clear."

Bailey added that portion helium couldn't remark excessively overmuch connected Revolut specifically, the Prudential Regulation Authority is moving things done with the integer banking startup during its "mobilization" process.

The fintech elephantine was granted a banking licence with restrictions successful July 2024 from the U.K.'s PRA, bringing an extremity to a years-long exertion process that began backmost successful 2021.

This cardinal triumph moved Revolut into what's known arsenic the "mobilization" signifier of a company's travel toward becoming a full-fledged bank.

During this period, firms are constricted to holding lone £50,000 of full lawsuit deposits — good beneath the hundreds of billions of pounds customers deposit with large precocious thoroughfare lenders specified as Barclays, HSBC and Santander.

Revolut customers successful the U.K. are besides inactive served by the company's e-money unit, alternatively of its banking entity. This means they are not straight insured by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, which protects customers up to £85,000 if a steadfast fails.

Delays to Revolut person been a constituent of contention for the government, which has travel nether occurrence from the U.K. tech manufacture for not doing capable to guarantee the state tin vie efficaciously with the U.S. and different cardinal hubs.

Bailey stressed that determination was "no commercialized disconnected betwixt fiscal stableness and maturation successful the economy." However, helium suggested that helium was unfastened to regularisation changes to alteration the fintech assemblage to flourish.

"We are precise unfastened to making changes wherever they're appropriate," helium said.