Mobile banking startup Revolut has received its European banking license as the London-based fintech firm makes preparations for a shift in Europe's financial services landscape after Brexit .
Once Britain leaves the bloc, non-EU lenders are almost certain to lose passporting rights, which are tied to UK’s membership of the European single market and allows firms to sell services across the 28-nation region.
Revolut has received its license through the central bank in Lithuania - a country which has been aggressively pushing itself as a fintech-friendly destination. Once implemented, which takes from 3 to 6 months, Revolut will be able to offer credit and deposit services, overdrafts and personal loans across the continent.
The company’s clients will also be covered under the European Deposit Protection scheme, which protects their funds and pays back up to €100,000 per user.
To date, only a few European fintechs have a full banking license. Back in 2016, N26, the tech-focused bank based in Berlin, was among the first startups to be awarded a full banking license in Germany and approval by the European Central Bank.
Exceptional Performance on Crypto Addition
Revolut is also set to hit the Asian market in the first quarter of 2019, and it says 50,000 people in the APAC region are already on the waiting list.
The London-based startup, which recently raised a $250 million in Series C funding, has secured a remittance license from Singapore’s regulators and full authorization from Japan’s FSA, hoping to grab a slice of the region’s mobile Payments business.
Revolut was founded only three years ago and claims to be signing up between 6,000 and 8,000 new customers every day while projects to reach a 100 million milestone in the next five years. It has experienced significant growth since it was founded in 2015. It now has over of 3.0 million registered customers compared to less than the two million user count it announced in June.
The financial technology firm also allows its customers to buy, sell and hold cryptocurrencies. Since launching the new version of its app in January, Revolut has seen a tremendous amount of interest, but it has since trailed off as the prices have fallen. The company revealed that 20 percent of the App users have now unlocked cryptocurrency trading, and are currently conducting 100,000 crypto exchanges every day.
