Nikolay Storonsky, the CEO of Revolut, Europe’s most valuable fintech company – worth £26 billion – which is based in London, criticised Britain’s “extreme bureaucracy” this weekend. 

Storonsky blamed the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for slowing down Revolut’s application for a banking licence, which the company said is critical for servicing its 5.8 million customers in the UK. Revolut has been seeking a full UK banking licence for almost two years now, while its rival banks Monzo and Starling already hold one.

“You wait for emails or letters for months. This is not the business environment to operate in the modern world,” he said speaking with The Times at the Web Summit in Rio.

Revolut has yet to land banking regulation in the US either, due to what the Financial Reporting Council calls an “inadequate” approach to revenue recognition. Auditors going through Revolut’s finances were unable to verify £477m of its £636m in sales for the year its valuation reached £26bn. Causing pundits to call on Storonsky to focus on getting its “house in order” before it deserves a licence. 

As a result, Revolut made it clear it would never choose the UK as a place to list the company if it were to go public. Adding itself to the list of other companies that have snubbed the London Stock Exchange in favour of the United States. 

UK chip giant Arm, being a recent high-profile example to choose New York over London to go public. As well as Activision Blizzard accusing the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) for making Britain “closed for business” after blocking its £55bn merger with Microsoft last month. 

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Speaking with The Times, Storonsky also said: “US tech champions are so supported by the Government: all the lobbyists, politicians, governors, they always promote business, business, business and it is completely the opposite in the UK.”

In response to the criticism, Badenoch is seeking an emergency meeting to try and keep Revolut operational in the UK. As the threat of a possible relocation to France or Spain have been reported by The Telegraph.