Revolut’s Compliance Bots Won’t Stop the Smurfs

The founder of fintech startup Revolut, Nikolay Storonsky, used to scorn banks’ compliance departments as overstuffed and out-of-date. “We can do as much as an army of compliance professionals with one good data scientist,” he told website eFinancialCareers last year.

Even that algorithmic ninja may be feeling the strain now that Revolut has doubled its number of customers to 2 million in less than a year. But a few months ago, the startup uncovered suspected money laundering activity on its digital payments system and reported it to the authorities, according to the Financial Times, which questioned whether Revolut can both grow fast and protect itself against financial crime.