Revolut: Fintechs Can Grow To Be Full Service And Global

The team from IBA Group will be at the Dubai Fintech Summit on May 6-7 in Dubai. Fintech is one of the fastest developing industries in the world at present, so this month I decided to take a look at the conference agenda and to theme my blog articles here on the topics being explored at the Dubai Fintech Summit.

One of the repeated themes in fintech is focus. Many fintech companies take a single problem or service from the banking industry and make it work better. We have seen this many times with services such as foreign exchange, remittances, and loans.

It’s a good strategy because it allows the fintech to focus on a specific issue, rather than trying to be a full service bank. This focus usually allows the fintech to make the service work better than customers are used to with regular banks.

Revolut is a good example. The British fintech was founded in 2015 by two entrepreneurs who were tired of paying high bank fees when traveling. They figured that it should be possible to offer a card to customers that allowed them to spend in any country without fees and using the internationally accepted exchange rate – rather than an expensive rate that cannot be explained.

Nik Storonsky, the founder and CEO of Revolut, will be speaking about his experience at the Dubai fintech summit and it is set to be a fascinating keynote session.

Many travelers agreed that the Revolut idea was a smart one. Within a year, Revolut had over 300,000 customers spending around £1 billion on the platform. After another year, they developed the service to be more useful to business customers, so spending reports and analysis were available, along with the ability to hold different currencies in accounts.

In 2018 Revolut got a European banking license. They started offering share trading services in 2019 and expanded into markets such as Japan and the USA. The business became profitable in 2020.

Since 2022 Revolut has been positioned as a full service bank, rather than a financial app or e-money service. They now offer full banking services across many different countries. Personal customer services now include accounts, cards, transfers, crypto, and share trading. Business services include multi-currency accounts, spend management, and analytics.

Revolut is now a highly rated banking service – comparable to major brands, if not seen as even better. Take a look at the British Consumer Association advice on the best and worst banks for customers. New banks that emerged from fintech roots, such as Starling, Monzo, and Revolut, are all very high on the recommended list – higher than established brands such as NatWest, Lloyds, Barclays or HSBC.

The Revolut story is not over. The company continues to evolve and is now focused on supporting financial lifestyles, which is a direction that all financial service companies all need to head toward. The bank of the future needs to enable and support customers rather than just offering an account and credit card.

Banks such as Revolut, that have been designed around the needs of the customer, are well placed for this new customer-centric future. They are a great example of how one single service provided by a fintech app can grow into a banking giant.

For registration and more information on the Dubai FinTech Summit agenda click here.

Follow IBA Group on LinkedIn for regular updates and comment. For more information on technology strategy and how tech connects to real business solutions please click here.