So much for this
“Our goal is to get beyond banking. You don’t really need to be a bank and being a bank actually limits you. If you look at all of the digital banking startups, they’re all local right — only UK, only France, only Germany.”
From here.
Revolut are now ‘exploring’ a bank license application, according to the FT -
Here’s a copy of that article for non-FT subscribers.
The company, which uses the strapline “beyond banking”, is considering a licence in order to expand into full-service current accounts, allowing people to set up direct debits and standing orders.
That doesn’t quite make sense to me though, as companies with an e-money license can provide Direct Debits (& presumably Standing Orders) so there must be more to this than that.
Nikolay Storonsky, founder and chief executive of Revolut, told the Financial Times: “At this stage, we have not applied for a banking licence.
“However, as part of our mission to be a leader in the payment services industry, we are always open to exploring opportunities that would enable us to provide additional value add services to our loyal customers who share our vision to shape the future of this industry.”
It’s worth remembering that it took Monzo & Starling almost 2 years to obtain full banking licenses..