LONDON —British banking and personal finance fintech Revolut has appointed MHP as its strategic communications partner to support an international expansion programme, after a competitive pitch.

The appointment comes after months of negative headlines about the company, ranging from alleged compliance issues around flagging suspect payments, to the conduct of its chief executive Nikolay Storonsky and the departure of a number of senior staff.

As part of the brief, understood to be worth six figures, MHP will develop media strategy and campaigns to support Revolut in its next phase of growth, including launching in North America and Asia.

The pitch was led by deputy CEO and corporate reputation specialist Nick Barron and Mike Robb, the head of MHP’s financial services practice, who will lead the account. Robb said: “It’s an honour to work with Revolut, who are on an exciting journey, valued at just under $2bn, with some of the biggest tech investors in the world backing them. They have over 1,000 employees and we beat some big players in the industry to win the brief.”

Revolut, set up in 2015 by former Credit Suisse trader Storonsky with banker Vlad Yatsenko, has four million customers across 31 countries and was granted its European banking licence at the end of 2018.

Other recent finance and fintech wins for MHP’s financial services team have included Nationwide, ING, Youtility, Conferma and impact investment platform tickr.

MHP is part of the Engine Group, which is going through a process of restructuring.