FinTech Startup Revolut Eyes Entry in U.S. Market and Plans to Shift Base to Ireland

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Bhushan Akolkar
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London-based fintech firm Revolut is now planning to move its operations to Ireland’s capital city Dublin and Lithuania. This decision from the startup comes as the UK moves out of the European Union with Brexit.

In the last few years, Revolut has gained its popularity by offering low-cost and user-friendly payment services to its customers. Besides, the fintech firm is popular among the younger demographic in the European market. Thus, it has successfully managed to acquire over 8 million customers since its launch in 2015.

Now, the fintech startup is planning to establish its base in Ireland and Lithuania. Revolut will use its Lithuania banking license to expand its services in Central and Eastern Europe. Revolut’s banking chief executive Richard Davies said:

“We remain committed to having London as our global headquarters, with Ireland planned to take on our Western Europe activities subject to authorization from the CBI. Ireland was selected as a regional hub due to our large customer base in the country, and access to a highly educated and diverse pool of talent.”

In addition to aligning its operations in the European market, Revolut is also planning to set up its base in the American market. But the European fintech company knows that it has several challenges ahead of it.

Revolut Plans to Enter American Fintech Space

The U.S. is undergoing a fast growth with multiple startups competing for their market share in the American fintech space. However, varying customer needs and complex regulatory environment makes it difficult for foreign companies to set up a base here.

One major challenge for Revolut is that the U.S. customers depend more on credit that the Europeans. Yann Ranchere, a partner at venture capital firm Anthemis Group, told Reuters:

“(The newcomers’) product offering and key features might not be as relevant in the U.S. market. Credit cards play a stronger role and FX is of less importance.”

Among other Europen fintechs that came to the U.S. are Berlin-based N26 and London-based Monzo. So, Revolut is definitely not a pioneer.

In Europe, Revolut’s popular service is connecting the debit cards to an application. This allows users to either store or spend their currencies at interbank exchange rates and low cost. Offering these services in the U.S. markets, Revolut plans to attract unbanked consumers, business travelers, and exchange students.

With financial startups like Robinhood gaining tremendous popularity in very little time, the disruption is quite visible. Besides, the legacy banking systems are also tuning their operations by investing billions of dollars in the new technologies to stay relevant in the game. Revolut is quite confident that it can successfully pitch its services in the U.S. market.

“U.S. consumers continue to face the issue of legacy banking systems, a lack of transparency and excessive fees. These are real problems which we can solve. There is plenty of room for both incumbent banks and technology companies to transform the U.S. financial landscape,” said a Revolut spokesperson.

Author: Bhushan Akolkar

Bhushan is a FinTech enthusiast and holds a good flair in understanding financial markets. His interest in economics and finance draw his attention towards the new emerging Blockchain Technology and Cryptocurrency markets. He is continuously in a learning process and keeps himself motivated by sharing his acquired knowledge. In free time he reads thriller fictions novels and sometimes explore his culinary skills.

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