Revolut announced on Monday that Revolut Bank S.A. received a full French banking licence following a joint assessment by the European Central Bank (ECB) and the French prudential regulator (ACPR).
This marks a significant milestone for the online bank and strengthens its position as one of Europe’s biggest retail banks. It also paves the path for further global growth, while allowing the company to focus more on localising its products for different markets.
“This achievement reflects months of close collaboration with the ACPR and the European Central Bank, whose rigorous standards have helped us build the right foundations for long-term growth in the region,” Béatrice Cossa-Dumurgier, CEO Western Europe at Revolut, said in a press release.
She added: “Our focus now turns to execution. We'll begin by serving customers in France before progressively expanding across Western Europe, while accelerating the localisation of our products and services to better meet the needs of retail and business customers in each market. This is the beginning of a new chapter for Revolut."
This follows Revolut receiving its full UK banking licence in March this year after a series of regulatory hurdles and delays.
The digital bank already has 30 million clients across Western Europe, with eight million coming onboard last year. It has more than 75 million clients across the world.
In the past year, the bank has shared that it would be investing more than €1 billion in Western Europe in Western Europe and is also hiring over 600 people across these markets.
Revolut has also said that it will be opening its new Western European HQ in Paris in 2027.
Revolut Bank S.A. will start serving European consumers in steps, starting with France, while other markets like Ireland, Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal will also follow in phases.
“This licence gives us the foundation to build the next generation of banking for more than 30 million customers across Western Europe. France has become a leading financial hub, supported by a dynamic financial ecosystem and a robust regulatory framework,” Nik Storonsky, founder and CEO of Revolut, also said.
He added: “It is the ideal platform to accelerate Revolut's next phase of growth - bringing us one step closer to our ambition of becoming one of Europe's largest and most trusted banks."
Revolut’s Lithuanian entity, Revolut Bank UAB, will remain the focal point for operations for the rest of EEA. This two-pronged model is expected to help support the bank’s growth across Europe, with both entities subject to supervision by the European Central Bank and local governing authorities.
