Revolut Receives UK Banking Licence

Revolut, the global fintech with over nine million UK customers and 45 million globally, has announced today that it has received its UK banking licence with restrictions from the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), the regulator responsible for overseeing the UK banking sector.

Revolut now enters the ‘mobilisation’ stage, sometimes referred to as ‘Authorisation with Restrictions’, a common step for many new banks in the United Kingdom.

Nothing changes for UK customers during this restricted period, which is to allow new banks like Revolut to complete the build out of their UK banking operations ahead of launching in the market. Until then, customers in the United Kingdom can continue to use their Revolut e-money account as they always have.

Nik Storonsky, CEO of Revolut, commented: “We are incredibly proud to reach this important milestone in the journey of the company and we will ensure we deliver on making Revolut the bank of choice for UK customers.”

Francesca Carlesi, UK CEO of Revolut, commented: “Today’s announcement is a significant step forward for Revolut and for our customers. It is a tremendous responsibility to be a bank in the UK and we will work relentlessly to offer products and services that improve the financial lives of everyone who uses Revolut.

“This is the next phase in Revolut’s journey in the UK – we can’t wait to get going.”

Revolut recently published its financial accounts for 2023, announcing that Group revenues surpassed $2.2bn, with record profits before tax of
$545m.

Nina Mohanty, founder and CEO of Bloom Money, comments: “Revolut finally being granted its UK banking license after three years shows that the FCA is a genuinely fair and impartial regulator. They’ve upheld rigorous standards and it’s a really exciting achievement for Revolut. The team at Revolut has so far shown us that you can build a unicorn off an e-money license and that you can have high revenues too, which was already impressive. Their new bank status creates the opportunity for them to drive forward even more and achieve even higher revenue through deposit-taking activity. I look forward to Revolut really rising to this occasion – especially when it comes to their compliance efforts and maintaining their banking license.”

Kebbie Sebastian, founder and CEO of Merge, comments: Building a regulated fintech anywhere in the world is a challenge and securing a banking licence from the FCA is a significant achievement – particularly as a regulator known globally for its fair and robust approach. After many years of hard work, reaching this milestone will allow Revolut to significantly expand its product suite and directly generate new revenue lines that are possible only with a banking license. Congratulations to Nik and the team.