Police have launched a fraud investigation over a complaint on a money transfer by British digital bank Revolut, adding further pressure to a fintech company that is already facing probes on other issues from regulators. The City of London Police confirmed that an investigation by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau was now under way, after the Metropolitan Police received a complaint about the London-based company in early February. Revolut, which was valued at $1.7bn in its most recent fundraising, has expanded rapidly from its beginnings as an app focused on travel money. It currently has plans to offer services ranging from personal loans to commission-free stock trading. The company is best-known for its consumer banking services, but the case being investigated by police relates to its Revolut for Business service, which provides multicurrency accounts with free currency exchange and international transfers for small and medium-sized businesses. Paul Carlier, a former foreign exchange trader, filed a complaint on behalf of his wife, who said she had not received a payment of more than £70,000 owed to her in January. Mr Carlier said he pursued the fintech firm over the hold-up for more than two weeks, at which point Revolut informed his wife that it was shutting down her account. A customer support officer told her that he “cannot confirm you’ll receive a full and detailed explanation as of [sic] why the account is being closed”. According to official emails seen by the Financial Times, it appears the £70,000 sum was incorrectly paid into another person’s account. Revolut’s banking infrastructure partner, PrePay Technologies, later told Mr Carlier it had contacted Revolut in an attempt to have the money redirected to its proper recipient. Mr Carlier said: “Revolut went to extraordinary lengths to prevent acknowledging both a complaint made by [my wife’s] business and the authority given by the business for me to investigate and communicate on their behalf. “Revolut ignored requests for information, forcing the business to turn to social media to request information,” he added. “They were quickly blocked for daring to raise genuine concerns and questions.” Revolut said: “We are unable to comment on individual cases but we would like to apologise for any distress that may have been caused.” Revolut is currently facing pressure from regulators in the UK and politicians in Lithuania, where it received a European banking licence last year. It is common practice in Lithuania for security commissions to investigate businesses when applying for licences. But Revolut was investigated a second time after concerns were raised about the source of some of its shareholders’ money. Revolut’s founder Nikolay Storonsky hit back against criticism in Lithuania in January, saying in an open letter that while the country was “making a name for itself” as a fintech hub, “scaremongering campaigns such as this will make foreign investors run in the opposite direction, potentially risking thousands of jobs”. Recommended Fintech Revolut’s Russian founder stirs up Lithuania’s fintech debate Meanwhile, in the UK, the Financial Conduct Authority is looking into whether Revolut failed to abide by rules requiring it to be open and frank with its regulator, after it failed to inform it of an alleged lapse in its anti-money laundering controls last year. It had previously reported a string of suspected money-laundering issues on its digital payments system to the FCA and National Crime Agency earlier in 2018. Revolut declined to comment on the FCA investigation but said: “There never was any lapse in our anti-money laundering controls or our sanction screening process. At no point did we fail to meet our legal or regulatory requirements.” Revolut’s chief financial officer, Peter O’Higgins, resigned last week, saying he wanted to make way for someone with “global retail banking experience at this level”. The company confirmed that it was looking for a new CFO with more experience in retail banking, but stressed that Mr O’Higgins’s departure was not related to compliance issues.