Revolut Hires ArgusFX’s Christos Drakos as Executive Director for Cyprus

Christos Drakos, the Executive Director of Cyprus-based forex broker, ArgusFX, has left the company to join Revolut, a global financial service provider, as the Executive Director for Cyprus.

Drakos, who has over 10 years of industry experience, announced the new position on Monday on his LinkedIn account.

The new position is Drakos’ third career appointment as the Executive Director of a financial services company operating in Cyprus.

Before ArgusFX, Drakos was the Executive Director at OvalX’s office in Cyprus.

He worked with the forex and contract for difference broker for a little over three years between January 2019 and January 2022.

Between 2011 and 2014, Drakos spent career stints at the financial advisory services firm, K. Treppides & Co Limited, the customer relationship management firm, Benissimo and the financial consulting firm, Yiamakis Consultant Limited.

Regulatory Troubles

Drakos’ appointment comes as Revolut faces pressure from its auditors to enhance its internal controls.

The Financial Times reports that the UK independent regulator, the Financial Reporting Council has faulted how Revolut’s payment process was tested by BDO, a public accounting, tax and advisory firm.

Meanwhile, the Japanese regulator, Kanto Local Finance Bureau issued a business improvement order against Revolut’s subsidiary in Japan last Friday.

Finance Magnates reports that the Japanese Financial Services Agency (FSA) observed that Revolut failed to fully establish proper governance for providing funds transfer services in a proper and steady manner.

The FSA said it conducted an on-site inspection of the company and found “serious problems” in the firm’s “control environments for governance, management of outsourced contractors, and money laundering and terrorist financing risk management.”

Revolut’s Growth Drive

In the past few months, Revolut, which is valued at $33 billion, has entered into various partnerships to expand its global business presence.

In August, Revolut gained approval from the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission to offer cryptocurrency services to European clients including those in Norway.

This came after the London-headquartered fintech company received in-principle approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore to offer more than 80 tokens on its platform.

In June, the service provider announced a partnership with Tink, an open banking platform, to enable its clients across Europe to easily move money into their accounts.

Ivan Chalov, Revolut’s Head of Retail, explained that the partnership sought to introduce the company's open banking services into new markets in a fast and sustainable way.

Two months ago, Revolut similarly announced a partnership with Stripe, a top financial infrastructure provider. The fintech company said the goal was to leverage Stripe's infrastructure to enter several new markets.