Revolut's fraud practices are once again under the spotlight after a BBC Panorama investigation found that the challenger was named in more fraud reports than any other UK bank last year.

The broadcaster revealed figures it obtained from Action Fraud under a Freedom of Information (FOI) request which show that the bank was mentioned in 9,793 fraud reports over the 12-month period.

Revolut was mentioned in a significantly higher number of reports than the second most named bank, Barclays, which was involved in 7,874 cases.

The investigation comes after consumer champion Which? revealed last year that the Financial Ombudsman had received 3,500 fraud complaints about Revolut, a number which outstripped all other UK banks.

The global FinTech currently has more than 45 million customers worldwide and hundreds of thousands of business customers.

Last month it reached a significant milestone after announcing it now has 10 million UK customers, solidifying its position as one of the country's largest financial technology companies.

The BBC spoke to eight ex-Revolut workers who flagged issues with the company's "insatiable appetite for growth" and a "high-pressure environment."

“Protecting Revolut from being used for financial crime always played second fiddle to the desire to launch new products and to get existing customers to use products more,” an insider, who wished to remain anonymous, explained to the news organisation.

A Revolut spokesperson told FStech that so far in 2024, through its fraud intervention warnings, it has stopped nearly twice as many customers proceeding with potentially fraudulent transactions compared to 2023.

The company also pointed to its recently announced Wealth Protection, a new biometric identification feature designed to prevent thieves from accessing customer savings within the Revolut app, as well as an advanced AI-scam detection feature that protects customers against card scams.

"As a UK Payment Service Provider, Revolut abides by the same regulatory standards as any “High Street bank” in combating fraud," they continued. "We of course would refute any suggestion that we do not, nor wish to, abide by these standards."

The spokesperson added: "We recognise a small number of our customers have had experiences with Revolut which have fallen short of our expectations. We do not recognise this as the experience held by the vast majority of customers who continue to enjoy Revolut’s products and services. Nevertheless, there will always be more to do to tackle this multi-industry issue and we will continue to work towards reducing fraud rates further."

Laura Eshelby, head of economic crime at investigation and intelligence management tech firm Clue Software said that Revolut should not downplay the seriousness of being named in more fraud complaints than any other UK competitor.

"It’s also important to note that this figure is likely underreported, with the NCA estimating that up to 86 per cent of fraud incidents go unreported for many reasons including customer shame or embarrassment," continued Eshelby.

Editor-in-Chief of TopMoneyCompare, Russell Gous said that the BBC Panorama investigation has exposed "significant gaps" in the company's customer protection.

"As Revolut moves toward becoming a fully-fledged bank, it must take urgent steps to address these security flaws and restore consumer confidence," he warned. "Customer protection should be the top priority, and building stronger fraud prevention systems is key to ensuring safety and trust in their services.”

In July, Revolut received its long-awaited UK banking licence "with restrictions" after a three-year wait.

Approval from the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), the Bank of England’s arm that regulates and supervises financial services, means that the neobank can now enter a ‘mobilisation’ stage, also referred to as "authorisation with restrictions."

Revolut first filed for a UK banking licence in 2021. Since then, it has clinched approval from other countries, including Mexico.

A range of issues emerging over the past few years, including accounting and reputational issues and late accounts filings, made it more difficult for it secure a banking licence in the UK.

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