Revolut files for US banking licence

Revolut has applied to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation for a US national bank charter.

The firm has veered away from its initial plan to buy a lender in the country in the face of a more relaxed regime for bank charters under the Trump administration.

To spearhead its launch, the firm Revolut has appointed Cetin Duransoy US CEO, succeeding Sid Jajodia who remains at the company as global chief banking officer.

Duransoy brings over two decades of tech, payments, and finance industry experience to the US CEO post. He most recently served as the US CEO of savings marketplace Raisin. Prior to this, Duransoy held senior leadership banking and payments roles at Capital One and VISA.

Revolut co founder and CEO, Nik Storonsky says: “The United States is a key pillar of our global growth strategy. Filing for a national bank charter is a major milestone toward our vision of building the world’s first truly global banking platform. This charter will give us the direct control needed to innovate faster and deliver the Revolut experience to millions more Americans as we move toward our goal of 100 million customers.”

If approved the charter will enable the firm to ramp up its operations, providing direct acces to payment rails and new revenue streams from card and credit operations.

Securing a US bank license soon after scaling its operations in Mexico, would mark significant progress on Revolut’s goal to expand into 30 new markets by 2030 and reach 100 million customers by mid 2027. Recent milestones include launching banking operations in Mexico, securing a payments license in India, securing an in-principle payments license in the UAE, and the opening of Revolut’s new Global HQ in London.