With its headquarters in London, Revolut has been on an aggressive expansion spree, launching operations in fresh territories such as Brazil and New Zealand last year
Revolut has broken records with its profits in 2023, as the UK’s leading fintech giant continues to awaits a British banking licence.
The firm reported a pre-tax profit of £438million for the previous year, a significant turnaround from the £25million loss it suffered in 2022, while its revenue saw an impressive near-doubling to £1.8billion. With its headquarters in London, Revolut has been on an aggressive expansion spree, launching operations in fresh territories such as Brazil and New Zealand in 2023.
An additional 12 million users joined the platform over the past year, boosting its total customer count to over 45 million. This growth trajectory has allowed Revolut to eclipse the expansion rates of other digital finance players like Monzo and Starling, which boast around nine million and three million customers respectively.
Yet, despite outpacing its competitors, Revolut still lacks the authority to provide lending services such as credit cards, personal loans, or mortgages in the absence of a banking licence. Having applied for the licence back in 2021, Revolut has consistently suggested that its approval is imminent.
On March 1, 2023, the company optimistically announced it expected to receive the go-ahead “any day now”, but the wait continues. Even with its vast user base, Revolut remains categorised as an electronic money institution, or EMI, within the UK’s borders.
Nevertheless, it holds a European banking licence courtesy of the Lithuanian regulatory body, enabling it to extend personal loan services in countries like France, Germany, and Spain. Last year, Revolut’s loan portfolio expanded to £528million.
Revolut has ramped up its advertising and marketing spend to £241million last year, eyeing further expansion across Europe. It revealed last month that it’s set to relocate its global headquarters to a refurbished building in Canary Wharf, a move described as pivotal for the growth of Revolut’s operations both in the UK and internationally.
Nikolay Storonsky, the firm’s chief executive, commented: “We remain committed to our ongoing UK banking licence application in addition to bringing the Revolut app to new markets and customers around the world. Even as we reached 45 million global retail customers six months into 2024, Revolut remains poised for exponential growth in 2024 and beyond, continuing to redefine the financial services landscape as we’ve known it.”
