Why Is Revolut Trying So Hard to Become a Bank Everywhere?
Revolut already looks like a bank.
You can keep money there.
You can get a card.
You can exchange currencies, invest, pay bills and receive your salary.
In many countries, Revolut actually is a licensed bank.
So why does it keep applying for more banking licenses around the world?
In 2026, Revolut launched as a bank in the UK, secured a banking license in France, received conditional approval for a U.S. national bank charter, and applied for a standalone banking license in Switzerland.
The answer is not simply regulation.
It is about what happens after your money enters the app.
And that could change what kind of company Revolut becomes.
Start With $1,000
Imagine you put $1,000 into Revolut.
Then you use the app.
You buy something with your card.
You exchange dollars for euros.
You pay for a premium subscription.
You invest.
Each of those activities can create revenue for Revolut.
That model has worked remarkably well.
In 2025, Revolut generated about:
$6 billion in revenue.
Profit before tax reached:
$2.3 billion (£1.7 billion).
Its retail customer base reached:
68.3 million.
And total customer balances climbed to:
$67.5 billion.
But there is something unusual about the way Revolut makes money.
Despite looking increasingly like a bank, its business still does not look much like a traditional one.
Most of the Money Does Not Come From Lending
Think about a traditional bank.
Customers deposit money.
The bank uses its balance sheet to make loans and hold other interest-earning assets, while operating under capital, liquidity and other regulatory requirements.
Borrowers pay interest.
Depositors may receive interest.
The difference between funding costs and returns on assets is one important source of bank profit.
Revolut still looks different.
According to Reuters Breakingviews, roughly:
76% of Revolut's 2025 revenue came from fee-based activities.
Interest income accounted for less than:
22%.
Its balance sheet makes the difference even clearer.
At the end of 2025, Revolut's loan-to-customer-deposit ratio was just:
6.2%.
Its customer lending portfolio was:
£2.2 billion.
Meanwhile, Revolut said:
90% of its assets were held in cash, cash equivalents and Treasury Investments.
In other words, Revolut has become extremely good at attracting money.
It has barely begun doing one of the things traditional banks are famous for:
lending it.
So How Does Revolut Make Money?
Look at some of its 2025 businesses.
Subscriptions generated approximately:
$936 million.
Card payments:
$1.3 billion.
Wealth:
$876 million.
Foreign exchange:
$800 million.
Interest income:
$1.3 billion.
Revolut has effectively built a financial supermarket inside a smartphone.
Customers enter through the account.
Then they use more services.
Cards.
Currency exchange.
Investing.
Subscriptions.
Business payments.
Savings.
Credit.
The account is the front door.
And the more financial activity that happens behind that door, the more valuable the customer relationship becomes.
That helps explain why banking licenses matter.
A Banking License Changes What Is Behind the Door
Consider Switzerland.
Revolut already has around:
1.3 million Swiss customers.
That represents roughly:
24% market penetration.
Yet in September 2026, Revolut applied for a standalone Swiss banking license.
Why?
Because a local license would allow Revolut to deepen what it can offer Swiss customers, including local salary accounts, Swiss-franc investment accounts, local IBANs and access to Swiss deposit insurance.
Revolut wants its Swiss penetration to exceed:
40% within two to three years.
But one of its executives told Reuters something revealing about what Revolut still needs to build in Switzerland:
trust.
That matters.
A banking license is not simply permission to add another button to the app.
It can help turn an app people occasionally use into the place where their financial life sits.
Your Salary Is More Valuable Than Your Vacation Spending
Think about two customers.
Customer A downloads Revolut before traveling to Europe.
She exchanges currency.
Uses the card for two weeks.
Then barely opens the app again.
Customer B receives his salary into Revolut every month.
His bills leave the account.
His savings stay there.
His investments are there.
Eventually, his credit card or mortgage might be there too.
The second relationship is fundamentally different.
A vacation creates transactions.
A salary creates a financial relationship.
Once a company becomes the place where money arrives every month, it has an opportunity to provide many more financial products around that account.
The account stops being just a product.
It becomes distribution.
Now Add Lending
This is where the economics become more interesting.
At the end of 2025, Revolut's customer lending portfolio had grown to approximately:
£2.2 billion.
That was an increase of:
120% in one year.
The portfolio consisted primarily of unsecured personal loans, credit cards and an early mortgage business.
That sounds like rapid growth.
It is.
But relative to the amount of customer deposits Revolut has accumulated, lending remains small.
Its loan-to-deposit ratio was only:
6.2%.
Reuters Breakingviews contrasted this with ratios around 70% to 90% at more traditional banks.
Revolut therefore has substantial room to expand lending if it chooses to make banking a larger part of its business.
That creates an opportunity.
It also creates a problem.
The Better Revolut Gets at Banking, the More It May Look Like a Bank
In July 2026, Revolut began a secondary share sale valuing the company at:
$115 billion.
This was not Revolut raising $115 billion.
It was a transaction allowing existing shareholders to sell shares at a price implying that valuation.
That distinction matters.
But so does the number.
Revolut has been able to attract a valuation associated with a rapidly growing technology-driven financial platform.
Its app can add customers quickly.
Many products generate fees.
Software can scale across countries.
Traditional lending is different.
Loans consume capital.
They create credit risk.
Some borrowers do not repay.
Liquidity matters.
Regulators become more important.
Risk management becomes more complex.
The balance sheet gets heavier.
That creates a fascinating tension.
Revolut wants more of the economics available to a bank without losing the scalability that made it look like a technology company.
Why Not Just Stay a Fintech?
Because being someone's financial app and being someone's primary bank are not the same thing.
The difference becomes even bigger with businesses.
Revolut Business reached:
767,000 customers in 2025.
It accounted for about:
16% of total group income.
But businesses eventually need more than payments.
They need working capital.
Credit.
Loans.
Cash management.
And sometimes much larger financing relationships.
Payments can get Revolut through the front door.
Banking can allow it to move deeper inside the company.
Eventually, many customers ask the same question:
Can you lend me money?
That Helps Explain America
The United States could become an important market for Revolut.
On September 3, 2026, the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency conditionally approved Revolut's application to form:
Revolut Bank US, N.A.
The word conditionally matters.
This is an important step, but it does not mean Revolut can immediately operate a full U.S. bank.
Additional regulatory approvals are still required.
Revolut expects to launch U.S. banking operations in the first half of 2027, subject to those approvals.
The proposed bank is expected to offer products including checking accounts, installment loans, credit cards and foreign exchange services.
Why go through all that work?
Because Revolut does not just want to be another card inside an American customer's wallet.
It wants to become:
the account behind the wallet.
France Shows the Same Strategy
France offers another clue.
Revolut already served French customers through its Lithuanian banking entity.
Then, in August 2026, it received a French banking license.
Why build another bank when Revolut already had a European banking structure?
Because local infrastructure matters.
The French license allows Revolut to build locally tailored products, including lending and regulated savings products, as it establishes Paris as its Western European banking hub.
To the customer, the app may barely change.
Same phone.
Same logo.
Same interface.
But behind the screen, something important changes.
The legal entity holding the relationship can change.
The regulatory framework can change.
The deposit protection system can change.
The products Revolut can offer can change.
That is the strange thing about digital banking.
The front looks like software.
The back is licenses, capital and regulation.
We Have Seen This Pattern Before
This is not completely different from another financial business model.
A brokerage app can advertise:
$0 trading.
But the front door does not tell you where all the economics live.
The broker can still make money from interest, securities lending, subscriptions and other services.
The same principle appears here.
Revolut's front door is a simple financial app.
Behind it sits an increasingly complicated financial machine.
And the deeper Revolut moves into banking, the more valuable that machinery can become.
The interface attracts the customer.
The infrastructure determines what the company can do with the relationship.
Stablecoins Reveal the Same Hidden Layer
Digital money can create a similar illusion.
A stablecoin may look like a simple:
$1 digital token.
But behind that dollar can sit bank deposits, U.S. Treasuries, money-market structures, custodians and redemption systems.
Again, the product people see is simple.
The financial infrastructure behind it is not.
Revolut is building the same kind of contrast at a much larger scale.
The customer sees:
an app.
Behind the app sits:
banking licenses
deposit protection
regulatory capital
credit underwriting
liquidity management
and increasingly:
loans.
Banking Licenses Are Infrastructure
Think of Revolut's app as a store.
Cards, trading, FX and subscriptions are products sitting on the shelves.
A banking license is closer to the building underneath the store.
Customers may barely notice it.
Yet it determines what the company can build on top.
That is why Revolut keeps collecting licenses market by market.
The company operates across roughly 40 markets and has stated an ambition to reach 100.
Becoming a global financial app is one challenge.
Building regulated banking infrastructure across dozens of countries is another.
The Revolut Paradox
Revolut spent its first decade making banking feel less like banking.
Open an app.
Tap a button.
Exchange currencies.
Get a card.
Move money.
No marble lobby.
No branch manager.
No paperwork piled on a desk.
That simplicity helped Revolut grow.
But underneath that simple interface, the company is now building more of the machinery traditional banks have spent decades building.
Deposits.
Loans.
Mortgages.
Credit cards.
Corporate banking.
Local banking licenses.
Deposit protection.
Capital.
Risk management.
Regulatory infrastructure.
The front end becomes more technological.
The back end becomes more bank-like.
So Why Is Revolut Trying So Hard to Become a Bank Everywhere?
Because the bank account may be one of the most valuable pieces of financial real estate.
If Revolut handles your vacation spending, it owns a transaction.
If your salary arrives there every month, it owns a relationship.
If your savings stay there, it holds more of your financial life.
If your business uses it, Revolut enters your company.
And if you eventually borrow there, another source of economics opens up.
That is much bigger than selling a card.
But it comes with a trade-off.
The more Revolut lends, the more capital and risk management matter.
The more regulation matters.
And the more its economics begin to resemble those of the banks it originally set out to disrupt.
Revolut's biggest challenge may therefore not be becoming a bank.
It may be becoming a bank without becoming just another bank.
BEYOND THE OBVIOUS.
Sources
Revolut — 2025 Results and Annual Report
https://www.revolut.com/news/revolut_reports_record_profit_of_2_3bn_for_2025_as_revenue_surges_to_6bn/
Revolut — 2025 Annual Report
https://www.revolut.com/annual-report-2025/
Reuters — Revolut's Bank-Tech Tight Wire Act Will Get Harder
https://www.reuters.com/commentary/breakingviews/revoluts-bank-tech-tight-wire-act-will-get-harder-2026-09-17/
Reuters — Revolut Applies for Swiss Banking Licence
https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/revolut-applies-swiss-banking-license-unveils-investment-plans-2026-09-16/
Reuters — Revolut Wins Conditional U.S. Banking License
https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/revolut-wins-conditional-us-banking-license-2026-09-03/
Reuters — Revolut Gets French Banking License
https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/revolut-gets-french-bank-license-2026-08-10/
Reuters — Revolut Starts Share Sale at $115 Billion Valuation
https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/uk-finance-app-revolut-says-secondary-share-sale-is-underway-2026-07-22/