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Revolut reported record profits last year as the UK fintech reaped the rewards from higher interest rates and an aggressive expansion plan.
The London-based company said on Tuesday that it made a pre-tax profit of £438mn in 2023, up from a loss of £25mn the previous year. Its revenues almost doubled to £1.8bn.
Founded by Nikolay Storonsky and Vlad Yatsenko in 2015, Revolut has pursued an ambitious international expansion, outstripping the growth of rival challenger banks including Monzo and Starling, even as it still awaits a UK banking licence.
The group added 12mn customers last year, taking its current total to more than 45mn. Its interest income, meanwhile, climbed more than fivefold to £500mn in the period.
“Our diversified business model continues to demonstrate resilience, with robust growth across various business units,” said Storonsky, the chief executive. “This growth was fuelled by the introduction of new products and the addition of millions of new customers.”
The SoftBank-backed company has yet to be awarded a UK banking licence more than three years after submitting an application to regulators.
Its application has been stalled by problems including a warning from auditors that they could not fully verify revenue figures in the group’s 2021 accounts. A UK banking licence would allow the fintech to widen the products and services it can offer in its biggest market.
The group, which has a European banking licence from authorities in Lithuania and offers personal loans in France, Germany and Spain, expanded its loan book to £528mn.
Advertising and marketing costs soared more than 80 per cent to £241mn last year. As part of a push to expand in Europe, Revolut purchased advertising space on air bridge billboards at airports across the continent.
Despite the prolonged uncertainty over a UK licence, the fintech is currently targeting a valuation of more than $40bn in a share sale, the Financial Times reported last month. That would eclipse the $33bn valuation Revolut achieved in a 2021 fundraising.
The company last month announced plans to move its headquarters to one of the most prominent buildings in Canary Wharf, where it has been based since it was founded.
