Revolut wins French banking licence, backs Western Europe with €1B
What's the deal? Revolut has secured a full French banking licence from the French banking regulator, the Autorité de Contrôle Prudentiel et de Résolution (ACPR), and the European Central Bank. The approval covers Revolut Bank S.A. and clears the fintech to offer more loans, mortgages, and savings products, starting in France before rolling out to Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, and Spain.
Why now? French regulators had pushed the group to secure a local licence for closer oversight. The move follows a period of friction with European authorities, who last year restricted Revolut's ability to launch new products after flagging "deficiencies" in its risk controls.
By the numbers: Revolut serves about 30 million customers across Western Europe, its largest and fastest-growing region, with close to 8 million joining in the past year. The London-headquartered firm counts 75 million customers globally across 40 markets and aims to reach 100 million.
The money behind it: Revolut has committed to investing more than €1B in Western Europe and hiring over 600 people across the region. It will open its Western European headquarters in Paris in 2027.
Who's steering it: The Paris operation runs under Frédéric Oudéa, chair of Revolut Bank S.A.'s board, and Béatrice Cossa-Dumurgier, chief executive officer for Western Europe. Revolut will now run a dual-hub model, with its Lithuanian entity, Revolut Bank UAB, remaining a cornerstone for the rest of the European Economic Area.
"France has become a leading financial hub, supported by a dynamic financial ecosystem and a robust regulatory framework," said founder and chief executive officer Nik Storonsky. He called it "the ideal platform to accelerate Revolut's next phase of growth."
The bigger picture: Revolut secured a full UK licence in March and later won authorisations in Australia. Its pre-tax profits rose 57% last year to £1.7B on £4.5B of revenue, and a current secondary share sale values it at $115bn.
The signal: The French licence rounds out a run of hard-won approvals that hand Revolut regulatory footing on both sides of the Atlantic. With a public listing targeted for 2028 at the earliest, it is stacking the credentials of a full-service bank while staying private longer.
Read more: UKTN · Tech.eu · Revolut · Financial Times
Image credit: Revolut
