How Richard Davies Built Allica Bank into the UK's Fastest Growing Fintech

Interviews with Leaders in Fintech & Web3

Interviews with Leaders in Fintech & Web3
How Richard Davies Built Allica Bank into the UK's Fastest Growing Fintech
Mar 23, 2026 Season 2 Episode 22
Work in Fintech

Today's guest is Richard Davies, CEO of Allica Bank, the fastest growing company in the UK from 2020 to 2024, built specifically to serve the small and medium sized businesses that traditional banks consistently overlook.

Richard has spent his career across some of the most influential names in banking and fintech — from Barclays and HSBC to being employee number one at Oak North, and Group COO at Revolut when it scaled from 5 to 15 million customers.

In this episode, we get into:

- What makes Allica Bank special and why he left Revolut to build it  
- The real reasons behind Allica Bank’s rapid growth  
- How Allica Bank serves one-third of the economy ignored by big banks  
- The future of traditional banks — branches, consolidation, and what comes next  
- The biggest trends and opportunities in fintech over the next 5 to 10 years  
- How leading digital banks are using AI right now  
- Richard’s hiring philosophy and what he looks for in people  
- The future of Allica Bank 

If you're building in fintech, banking, or thinking about your next career move, this one is worth your time.

Richard's LinkedIn: 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-davies-1323b2 

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