Tech giant Revolut gets banking licence... finally

REVOLUT today ended a painful threeyear wait to secure a British banking licence in a breakthrough moment for Britain’s biggest fintech, paving the way for major expansion.

- Simon Hunt

The Canary Wharf-based business, which first applied for a licence back in 2021, received confirmation of the verdict from the UK’s Prudential Regulatory Authority, allowing the company to offer a range of new financial services to compete with the biggest high street banks.

The $45 billion firm said it will now enter the “mobilisation” stage before obtaining a full licence, during which time banks can only hold £50,000 of total customer deposits. According to the Bank of England, mobilisation “could take as little as a few months but cannot continue indefinitely and should take no longer than 12 months.”

Revolut obtained a banking licence in Lithuania in December 2021 and is also regulated by the European Central Bank.