From British Neobank to Global Challenger Bank

Since its inception, Revolut has operated as an e-money institution in multiple countries. It still continues to operate with an e-money license in the UK and also relies on it to serve business customers in Europe. Revolut obtained a European banking license in 2018 from the Bank of Lithuania and has been relentlessly executing its aggressive expansion strategy. Post-pandemic, the digital bank filed paperwork with the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority in the UK and with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation in the US, seeking a banking license. These ambitious advancements align with company CEO Nikolay Storonsky’s statement, “generally in each country where we expand, we’re going to seek a banking license with them.” Revolut’s next target is the Asian market starting with India and followed by Indonesia, the Philippines, South Korea, and China. Beyond Asia, the incumbent has its eyes set on extending its services in Australia, Brazil, and Mexico in the Americas. In April 2021, Revolut kickstarted its arrival procedure in India with the appointment of Paroma Chaterjee as the CEO for the upcoming subsidiary and acquired Indian forex business, Arvog Forex, the following year as a part of its multi-million-pound investment in the sub-continent over the next five years.

In January 2022, the financial super app announced that customers in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Lichtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Spain, and Sweden who upgrade to Revolut Bank for additional services would have their deposits protected under the deposit guarantee scheme. The following month, the FinTech secured an Australian Credit Licence from the Australian Securities & Investments Commission, further strengthening its global expansion ambitions. Soon after, Revolut announced the appointment of Glauber Mota as CEO of Brazil ahead of its offering accounts and international cards to Brazilian consumers, marking its first step to bringing a full offering of the financial super app to the country.

Financial Super App Bandwagon Rolls Along

Revolut’s latest announcement came in June, when the digital banking platform revealed its plans to launch a streamlined version of the app in Sri Lanka, Chile, Ecuador, Azerbaijan, and Oman, thus allowing customers to transfer money to over 50 countries using more than 30 currencies. The digital bank is in the process of localizing its products for its New Zealand customers in a bid to release a limited beta version to the waitlist. New funding rounds, ever-increasing team size, and partnerships across various segments have helped Revolut expand its presence to 34 countries. During the same time, in its quest to become a financial super app, Revolut has launched several products such as credit lines, BNPL, stock trading, merchant acquiring, earned wage access, crypto trading, and others. With further launches planned in 8 more countries in the upcoming months, the UK-based FinTech is well on its course to becoming “the bank of the future.”