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Image credit: Revolut

London-based Revolut, the fintech company with more than 15 million customers globally, has announced to operationalise its European specialised banking licence in 10 European markets.

Customers in Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Latvia, Malta, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia who upgrade to Revolut Bank for additional services will now have their deposits protected under the deposit guarantee scheme.

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Deposit guarantee scheme

According to the company’s website, if Revolut Bank shuts down, its customers can claim up to €100K with this scheme. Also, it does not matter if the customers’ currencies were in euro or foreign, they are protected.

Customers in the 10 eligible European countries can now upgrade to Revolut Bank for additional services from within the app. The upgrade process takes just a few minutes. Revolut is confident that deposit accounts, alongside its wide range of products and services, will provide customers with more control, value, and security than traditional banks.

Virgilijus Mirkės, CEO of Revolut Bank says, “Revolut is now the fastest-growing fintech company in Europe because we put the customer at the heart of everything that we do. Our product design is second to none, we have no hidden fees, and we are constantly building new and innovative financial products.”

He further adds, “Launching the bank in ten new European markets will provide a greater level of security and confidence for our customers, and will enable us to launch a host of new products and services in the near future.”

Everything about Revolut

Founded in 2015 by Nikolay Storonsky and Vlad Yatsenko, Revolut is a financial services company that specialises in mobile banking, card payments, money remittance, and foreign exchange. It includes a prepaid debit card, currency exchange, and peer-to-peer payments.

For instance, using Revolut can show customers exactly how much they are spending each month on things like restaurants and groceries, can set monthly spending budgets for these categories and manage fees for subscription services, send and request money from friends instantly, and round-up their card payments and build-up their spare change.

One of Revolut’s key features includes conversion from one currency to another based on interbank rates with no fee. Customers can hold foreign currencies in their accounts or send money to another Revolut user or a bank account outside of their country.

According to the company, it is on a mission to help customers improve their financial health, promote financial cohesion across communities, and empower customers to have more control. Currently, it has over 15 million customers around the world who use Revolut’s products to make more than 100 million transactions a month.

To date, the company has raised about $1B (approx €830.46M) in investment at a valuation of $5.5B (approx €4.56B).

Recent developments

Earlier this year in January, the fintech had announced to create a financial super app and had submitted its application for a bank licence in the UK to the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). 

Last year, Revolut launched its specialised bank in Poland and Lithuania and started offering highly competitive credit products in both countries. 

The specialised bank licence allows Revolut Bank to provide limited banking services via the Revolut app along with an array of financial services and products offered by other Revolut Group companies.

In December 2020, the company launched its online web app for its customers in the European Economic Area (EEA), Australia, Canada, Singapore, Switzerland, Japan and the US. This development was made for customers so that they can safely access their accounts from a browser on desktop or laptop, in addition to the smartphone app.

In the same month (Dec 2020), Revolut had announced the launch of ‘Pockets’ – a new feature that enables customers to stay on top of their spending as well as makes organising rent, bills, and subscriptions effortless.