Revolut has secured a UK banking licence, unlocking deposit protection and lending products for 13 million customers in its home market
Four years after first filing for a UK banking licence, Revolut has finally received the green light.
The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) confirmed today (11 March) that it had lifted the restrictions on Revolut Bank UK Ltd, allowing the fintech to exit its mobilisation phase and begin operating as a fully licenced bank in Britain.
For a company which has spent the better part of a decade disrupting financial services from the outside, the regulatory approval marks a long awaited shift in its development, and could perhaps prove the most consequential in its history.
The licence covers Revolut’s 13 million UK customers and opens the door to a suite of services the company has been unable to offer domestically, including deposit protection under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) and, crucially, lending products.
Current accounts will begin rolling out to new customers in the coming weeks, starting with a limited group before expanding more broadly. Existing customers will continue using the app as normal during what is expected to be a transition period of several months.
Revolut’s road to authorisation
Revolut submitted its original licence application in 2021, but the path to its mobilisation phase acceptance was not a smooth one. Repeated scrutiny over the late filing of accounts, and auditor concerns over the reliability of its reported revenues culminated in increased pressure over its suitability to receive a UK banking licence.
This was further compounded by questions about its compliance culture, and whether it had adequate internal controls to operate as regulators believed it should as a potential deposit-taking institution.
Revolut was eventually admitted by the PRA to its mobilisation phase in July 2024 – which effectively is a supervised period in which the PRA assessed the fintech’s ability to operate at full scale. Mobilisation phases typically take a year – but Revolut’s mobilisation has been notably longer, predominantly due to its already large size.
Delays and scrutiny resulted in CEO Nik Storonksy admitting ‘mistakes’ had been made in Revolut’s early journey to grow fast and break things, but getting through the PRA process now signals to the market it has matured both commercially and, crucially, institutionally too.
Today, Storonksy’s message is different: “Launching our UK bank has been a long-term strategic priority for Revolut, and marks a significant moment in our journey,” he says.
“The UK is our home market and central to our growth. We look forward to introducing a full suite of banking services to our millions of UK customers, bringing the same innovative experience we already provide across the rest of Europe. This is a vital step in our mission to build the world’s first truly global bank.”
What does a UK banking licence unlock for Revolut?
Until now, Revolut’s UK customers held their money in an e-money account, which does not carry the same protections as a bank deposit. With the new licence however, eligible deposits are covered by the FSCS up to £85,000, a threshold that matters to the retail and business customers Revolut is targeting.
For many, this removes what has remained a genuine barrier to treating Revolut as a primary account rather than a supplementary one.
Beyond deposit protection, the bigger commercial prize is lending. While Revolut has offered credit products in Europe for some time – operating under its Lithuanian banking licence and the framework of European financial regulation – that capability has not been available in the UK until now.
Francesca Carlesi, UK CEO at Revolut, said:“Becoming a bank in our home market marks a defining moment in our journey – a milestone achieved through relentless focus, discipline, and belief in what we’re building.
“Securing this licence lays the foundation for our next chapter: expanding into a broader suite of products, including credit, to sit alongside the innovative services our customers already rely on every day. This will now enable us to continue on our mission to deliver the most seamless, secure, and customer-centric banking experience for consumers across the UK.”
Revolut’s license approval follows a recently announced five-year, £10bn ($13bn) global investment programme and plans to create 10,000 jobs as it pushes towards a presence in 100 markets.
Its commitment to invest £3bn in the UK specifically – and create 1,000 high-skilled jobs domestically – reinforces how central the home market remains to that strategy. The UK licence also strengthens the company’s hand in its parallel bid for a US banking licence, where regulatory credibility in established markets carries weight.
