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London-based fintech Revolut has grown into Europe's most valuable startup, surpassing major banks such as Barclays and Societe Generale in private market value. The company is expanding internationally and pursuing banking licences while competing with established financial institutions. Its diversified business model generates revenue from multiple products rather than relying primarily on lending, although its profit per customer and lending operations remain smaller than those of traditional banks.
FILE PHOTO: A bird flies past the Revolut global headquarters in Canary Wharf, London, Britain, July 16, 2025. REUTERS/Corey Rudy/File PhotoBy Lawrence White and Elizabeth Howcroft LONDON, Oct 4 - Revolut has risen to become Europe's most valuable startup and a challenge to centuries-old banking giants, having grown rapidly since it was launched just over a decade ago as a fintech promising cheaper forex fees.
Yet Revolut faces many hurdles itself, with the amount of revenue it extracts per customer a fraction of its established competitors and a small lending business by industry standards. A spokesperson for Revolut said in an email that the London-based company has a"diversified business model", earning its revenue from various products and services rather than lending.
"That means our growth depends on building things customers value, rather than on interest rates," the spokesperson said. CEO Nik Storonsky has stressed he wants Revolut to be truly global, expanding into markets from Mexico to Australia. The company has announced several new licences in recent weeks, as it aims to become one of only a handful of banks with retail operations spanning so much of the globe.
Meanwhile, some traditional lenders seen as global, including HSBC, are reducing their retail footprint. Valued at $115 billion privately, Revolut is now worth more than Britain's Barclays and France's Societe Generale as investors bet on its tech platform winning over more customers globally. Revolut's 2025 pretax profit was £1.7 billion , a fraction of Barclays' £9 billion, but growing fast.
Paulo Macedo, CEO of Portugal's biggest bank, Caixa Geral de Depósitos, said in June that 2025 was the last year in which the 150-year-old bank would record higher profit than Revolut.
"When you go to Europe the bank CEOs there are talking about Revolut as their most important threat because of their aggressive marketing and growth," said Cihan Duran, director at S&P Global Ratings. In the US, where Revolut has a provisional license, it will face tougher competition, investors said.
"The US could be potentially the biggest growth for Revolut. But at the same time, the US is the most competitive market," said Konstantin Sidorov, CEO of the London Technology Club, which invested in Revolut when it was valued at just $5.5 billion. There have been setbacks, including a fine in Lithuania for failing to prevent money laundering.
Revolut said an investigation had not identified any confirmed instances of money laundering, adding that it had signed a settlement with the central bank and taken steps to resolve shortcomings. And in September, Revolut accidentally sent customer data to hackers posing as government investigators. The company said its systems and customer funds were unaffected and it had contacted the"limited number of impacted individuals" to give support.
In 2024 and 2025, Revolut was the most-complained-about bank in Britain in fraud cases whereby customers are tricked into sending cash to scammers, Ombudsman data compiled by consumer advocacy firm Which? showed. Revolut has previously said in response it takes fraud very seriously and has robust customer protections in place. In Ireland, for example, Revolut said that 80% of the adult population has a Revolut account.
Revolut's website shows it has 80 million customers, against 84 million for JPMorgan and 41 million for HSBC. Revolut makes far less from each of its customers than traditional banks, a Reuters analysis of its figures shows. Average deposit balances are also much lower. Lower per-customer revenue is in part because Revolut lends much less than traditional banks, instead relying on fees such as card subscriptions.
With just £2.2 billion in loans at end-2025, Revolut's loan-to-deposit ratio of 6% compares with 55% for HSBC and 86% for Societe Generale. Scaling its lending business will introduce risks including managing big and complex credit exposures, while entering fiercely competitive local mortgage markets will not be easy, analysts and investors said. Revolut has attracted customers with its easy-to-use app but executives acknowledge too few use it as a primary bank account.
Revolut declined to comment in its latest results on how many customers did so in 2025, but said the figure was up 45% from a year ago. Alex Immerman, an investor at Andreessen Horowitz, which is known as"a16z", told Reuters it was watching for primary-account adoption, as well as total customer balances.
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