The City minister told Revolut chiefs that he could not influence its stalled bid for a UK banking licence at a rare meeting with Britain’s most valuable fintech company.
Andrew Griffith and officials held talks with Nikolay Storonsky and Martin Gilbert, Revolut’s chief executive and chairman, for the first time earlier this month.
It came as the company fights to salvage its application to the Bank of England to become a fully authorised lender.
Sources said that when the issue of Revolut’s licence application was raised, Mr Griffith said it was a matter for regulators and he could not speak about it or influence the decision.
One source added that Mr Storonsky and Mr Gilbert accepted that “the ball was in their court” in terms of its application and understood why Mr Griffith was unable to discuss the issue.
A Revolut spokesman said the company was not seeking to ask Mr Griffith to intervene in the process.
It comes after The Telegraph revealed in May that the Bank of England had told the Treasury that it was planning to reject Revolut’s application for a banking licence and was set to issue a statutory warning notice to the company.
However, it is understood that the warning notice has not been served and the company continues to actively pursue a UK banking licence.
Although it has a Lithuanian banking licence, the UK application is regarded as a key milestone in Revolut’s development that may help unlock further funding in a tougher market for tech companies.
Revolut has suffered a bruising few months, including the resignation of two senior executives and a warning from its independent auditor that the company’s revenues for 2021 “may be materially misstated”.
