Crypto-Friendly Neobank Revolut Secures UK Banking License After Years-Long Wait
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- Revolut secures UK banking license with restrictions after a three-year wait, entering the ‘mobilization’ stage.
- The crypto-friendly neobank faced challenges convincing regulators it had resolved accounting issues, EU regulatory breaches, and reputational concerns.
- The company has now entered the ‘mobilization’ stage, also known as ‘Authorization with Restrictions.’
Crypto-friendly neobank and fintech company, Revolut has finally obtained a UK banking license, although with some restrictions. This comes over three years after the firm, Britain’s most valuable fintech, submitted its application to regulators.
The London-based firm has been waiting for years to reach this point after applying for a UK banking license in 2021.
Commenting on this milestone, Revolut India CEO Paroma Chatterjee posted on LinkedIn, stating that Revolut has now entered the ‘mobilization’ stage, also known as ‘Authorization with Restrictions.’ This common step for new banks in the UK allows them to complete the setup required to become a full bank.
“We have grown to a 45Mn+ customers base worldwide in the last 9 years, with 9Mn+ of them based out of the UK. Now, with this brilliant new development – we will be in a position to elevate our product suite, and in true letter and spirit challenge traditional banking players in the UK and in all the other territories that Revolut operates in,” Chatterjee further wrote.
Additionally, the challenge for Revolut was partly convincing regulators that Revolut had resolved various accounting issues, EU regulatory breaches, and reputational concerns, including an overly aggressive corporate culture.
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority also investigated the business in 2016 after a whistleblower claimed it was not conducting adequate money-laundering checks or properly flagging suspicious payments. That investigation was closed in 2017.
Revolut was founded in 2014 by Nikolay Storonsky and Vlad Yatsenko as a solution to traditionally expensive overseas spending partly caused by hidden charges and fees.
Their idea was to create an app that would cut fees for travelers and make banking easier. The idea quickly caught on, and Revolut grew rapidly across Europe. The app offers many features, including a multi-currency account, a modern mobile app, a metal bank card, savings vaults, insurance, and cryptocurrencies. The company keeps adding new features every year.
Revolut was also the first payment service to include cryptocurrencies in 2017, at a time when many banks saw them as a threat rather than an opportunity.
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