Revolut, a London-based digital banking fintech worth $33B, is facing blowback over a 2.75% surcharge levied on former employees who will participate in an upcoming secondary share sale.

Why should we care?
Some former employees are reportedly unhappy with the fee, calling it “extortionate”. Meanwhile, current employees are exempted from the fee and are accorded first selling rights. “We want to be fair, but yes, we do slightly favour current employees…they’re the ones still supporting the [company’s] growth…It’s an illiquid market — equity is a long term engagement,” the company said in a statement. Some argue that making ex-employees pay a fee is not good from an optics perspective. For context, when Wise carried out a secondary sale for current and former employees, both paid the same fee. “Some kind of fee is fine, but it should be a fair and equal[ly] spread,” unidentified former employees said. In July, Revolut informed employees that they would be given the chance to sell 20% of their shares, pending certain conditions. Revolut boasts more than 15 million customers bank accounts, insurance products, investments, and crypto trading tools.