Revolut has obtained a banking license in France and plans to expand across Europe
Nikolai Storonsky’s fintech company plans to open its headquarters in Paris in 2027
British neobank Revolut has received a banking license in France and will open its headquarters in Paris / Photo: Veja/Shutterstock.com
Nikolai Storonsky’s neobank Revolut has received a full banking license in France following a joint assessment by the French Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority (ACPR) and the European Central Bank. The decision was approved by the ECB’s Governing Council, the company announced.
In the first phase, Revolut Bank SA will begin serving customers in France. The bank then plans to gradually expand into the markets of Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. Revolut Bank UAB, the Lithuanian subsidiary, will continue to serve customers in the remaining countries of the European Economic Area.
Western Europe is already the company’s largest and fastest-growing region: it has about 30 million customers there, nearly 8 million of whom signed up over the past year, according to Europe’s most valuable fintech company.
Revolut has committed to investing more than €1 billion in Western Europe and is hiring over 600 employees in the region. According to Reuters, 400 of them will be based in France. Revolut’s new headquarters for Western Europe will open in Paris in 2027.
That said, Revolut’s French unit may face restrictions on launching new products at the outset, similar to those already hampering the company’s business in Lithuania, as Bloomberg previously reported. The official press release makes no mention of these restrictions.
Context
Revolut has significantly expanded the geographic reach of its banking business in recent months. In March 2026, the fintech company received a full banking license in the United Kingdom and is now awaiting a decision on its application in the United States. In mid-June, the company entered the UAE market with the approval of the local central bank, and in July, it received a banking license in Australia.
Revolut already has more than 75 million users worldwide. In mid-July, the company was named among the 36 payment providers selected by the ECB for a digital euro pilot project. Meanwhile, the fintech is considering a secondary share offering that could value the entire business at $115 billion, according to Bloomberg. Revolut is in no hurry to go public: according to company founder Nick Storonsky, an IPO will not take place before 2028.
This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor
