Revolut has announced that it has applied for a banking licence in the UK.
The application has been submitted to the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and the UK banking licence would allow Revolut to further develop tailored products and offer comprehensive savings accounts with services such as overdrafts, loans and deposit accounts.
Moreover, this would allow Revolut customers to benefit from the additional protection of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) up to a maximum of £85,000 per person, on top of the tools Revolut already provides to combat financial crime and money laundering.
In 2018 Revolut already obtained a European banking licence, such that it already provides banking services in Central Europe. These include a very competitive credit offering, active in two European markets, with plans to extend banking to other countries in Europe during 2021.
Revolut has already amassed over 13 million customers since 2015, and now employs over 2000 people worldwide, including 800 in London. In July 2020 it closed a Series D funding round with an $80m extension, for a total of $580m and a valuation of $5.5bn. It was also named by the Sunday Times’ Tech Track 100 as “Britain’s fastest-growing tech company” for two consecutive years, the only company to do so.
Revolut’s goals with the UK banking licence
Nik Storonsky, Founder and CEO of Revolut, said:
“A UK banking licence allows us to provide the essential financial products UK customers expect from their everyday primary bank account, such as loans, credit cards, overdrafts and deposit accounts, coupled with the additional trust and security that is offered through FSCS protection.
We want to be the best in class for customer experience, value and capabilities, and offering full bank accounts allows us to do just that. In the future, we want to offer many more innovative products to our UK customers and we are excited to continue driving innovation and competition in the banking industry. Becoming a fully licensed bank in the UK is a central pillar of that ambition”.
