Lithuanian central bank fines Revolut Bank EUR 3.5 mln

VILNIUS – The Lithuanian central bank has imposed a 3.5-million-euro fine on Revolut Bank, a Lithuanian-registered subsidiary of the UK-based financial services group Revolut, for breaches of anti-money laundering regulations.

"The Bank of Lithuania conducted a routine inspection of Revolut Bank, during which it identified irregularities and shortcomings in the monitoring of business relationships and transactions," the central bank said in a press release.

"As a result, in practice, the bank did not always properly identify suspicious monetary operations or transactions carried out by its clients," it said. 

According to the central bank, the fine was calculated based on the nature, duration, and scale of the infringement, as well as the annual revenue of Revolut Holdings Europe, the Lithuania-headquartered company that manages the bank.

The Bank of Lithuania added that Revolut Bank has taken steps on its own initiative to address the irregularities and shortcomings and has reached an administrative settlement with the central bank.  

Revolut Bank operates in 30 markets in the European Economic Area (EEA) and is licensed and regulated by the European Central Bank and the Bank of Lithuania. 

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Revolut’s spokesperson:
Revolut Bank UAB is committed to the highest standards of regulatory compliance and cooperated with the Bank of Lithuania in taking immediate action to address the procedural deficiencies. We continue to invest to ensure we have best in class controls in the fight against financial crime.

- The Bank of Lithuania's investigation did not identify any confirmed instances of money laundering and findings are related to improvements of existing controls.

- The Bank of Lithuania calculated the fine amount taking into account various factors required by law. One factor was the 2023 annual gross revenue of Revolut Holdings Europe UAB (parent company of Revolut Bank UAB), which was EUR 929 million.

- Lithuanian legislation permits fines for AML/CFT Law violations up to a maximum of 10% of annual gross income. The EUR 3.5 million fine imposed represents 0.38% of the relevant revenue.

- This percentage reflects significant mitigating factors, namely Revolut Bank UAB acknowledgement of the issues, its own initiative in taking remedial action, and its full cooperation and constructive engagement with the Bank of Lithuania during the review.