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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.
Challenger bank Revolut has hired investment bank JP Morgan to conduct its $500 million funding round and issue it a $1 billion convertible loan, which will turn into shares if Revolut receives a U.S. banking license, reports Ruby Hinchliffe of Fintech Futures, Finovate’s sister publication.
Sky News sources revealed that Revolut is trying to achieve a new valuation of between $5 billion and $10 billion from the capital-raising, which could make it the most valuable fintech in Europe if it hits $10 billion, ahead of Monzo, Transferwise, Klarna and N26.
Currently the most valuable fintech in Europe is Adyen, a Netherlands-based data analytics firm valued at $8.3 billion.
It is not clear yet which of Revolut’s existing partners will be participating in the round. The challenger’s most recent partnership with Visa will see it expand to 24 new countries, as well as hire 3,500 new staff.
Having accumulated almost eight million customers since it was founded five years ago, and now on track to have raised almost $2 billion in its lifetime if it secures the full $1.5 billion from investors, Revolut is fast-becoming the top U.K.-based challenger bank.
However such exponential growth, with the bank quadrupling its revenue in 2018 and saying it will triple it again this year, yields greater regulatory warnings.
The Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority has targeted faster-growing companies in the U.K. like Revolut, requiring them to have more rigorous stress-testing and prove evidence of greater challenges by board members to business strategy.
Revolut is also undergoing a significant management restructure, following accusations of alleged links to the Kremlin.
Currently gearing up to announce its new chairman Martin Gilbert, vice chairman of Standard Life Aberdeen, the challenger has also lined up former boss at Goldman Sachs, Michael Sherwood, and has already hired a senior executive from Metro Bank.
Revolut debuted at FinovateEurope 2015 in London. The company’s CEO and founder Nikolay Storonsky showed off the app’s money transfer capabilities that help users avoid banking fees without actually using a bank. The company has made recent headlines in fintech news for its partnership with Bottomline and for its appointment of new CEOs in Lithuania and Ireland.
This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.
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Courtesy of a new partnership with Personetics, Metro Bank launches its Business Insights solution for business customers.
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This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.
Scalable Capitalteams up with Raisin to offer its customers the ability to invest in fixed-term deposits at partner Baader Bank.
Standard and Premium customers of Revolut in 26 markets now have access to stock trading via the platform.
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This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.
FICO and risk investigation solutions provider Arachnys partner to help FIs improve their client onboarding and record management processes.
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Finicityships new Verification of Income and Employment (VOIE) solution using TXVerify technology.
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This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.
Revolut has withdrawn its application for an e-banking license in the grand duchy in a shift towards Ireland, according to The Telegraph on Sunday, reports Sharon Kimathi of Fintech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication).
The news outlet notes that Revolut stopped its Luxembourg application after questions about its compliance systems were raised in the Chamber of Deputies by the MP Laurent Mosar (CSV) in April, which Revolut has refuted.
Without citing any company names, Moser stated in a parliamentary question to the finance minister, Pierre Gramegna (DP), that: “Fintech companies are subject to a host of national and international rules. However, it would seem that these rules are not always respected by fintech companies, so that some of them get their approval, even though they do not meet financial and banking regulatory requirements. According to my information, at least one major company that has recently applied for approval, would be flagged in its country of origin for non-compliance with existing regulations as well as for non-transparency.”
Mosar asked Gramegna what the finance ministry was doing to ensure compliance with fintech rules. Gramegna responded that the Financial Sector Supervisory Commission (CSSF) and not the finance ministry oversaw regulating financial institutions.
The Telegraph reported that the CSSF began conducting spot checks on financial technology firms headquartered in the country earlier this year to verify that board and staff members were truly located in the grand duchy.
The neobank needs regulatory approval from one of the EU27 in order to maintain its access to the single European market after Brexit.
Revolut told news outlets that it did not withdrawal its application due to questions about its compliance technology. Rather it took a “strategic decision” to focus on its license application in Ireland. A spokesman said the firm “had a very positive and open dialogue” with the CSSF, as well as the promotion body Luxembourg for Finance.
Founded in 2013, Revolut demonstrated its technology at FinovateEurope 2015. Nikolay Storonsky is CEO.
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Entrust Datacardpartners with JPMorgan Chase to pilot email security project.
This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.
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Revolutteams up with the WWF and The Rainforest Alliance to raise support for the Amazon rainforest.
Frost & Sullivan namesOnfido the winner of its 2019 European Technology Innovation award for its AI-based hybrid identity verification solution.
This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.
ProfitStarsReaches 500 Bank and Credit Union Customers for Commercial Lending Solution.
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OnPay partners with Xero to bring back-office services to the agricultural industry.
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LoanScorecard to power new QuickQual loan solution from Angel Oak.
ACI Worldwide to help Massachusetts-based Nichols College enhance its payment processes.
Revolutbolsters executive ranks with appointment of new treasurer, deputy Chief Financial Officer, and director of financial crime risk.
This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.
This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.
If your company has a cumbersome expense management process, then you will welcome the news that Revolut for Business has introduced a new solution to make those issues a problem of the past. Courtesy of a new partnership with fellow Finovate alum Xero, the expense management tool provides real-time expense monitoring, and the ability to approve or reject team expenses.
“The potential for expense management to turn into one big ugly mess is high,” Revolut Marketing Manager Aaron Larsson wrote on the company’s blog. “That’s why we’re proud to introduce our new Expense Management tool to Revolut for Business.”
Revolut’s new tool makes the expense management process easier for team members, finance teams, and accountants. Available within the Revolut for Business app, the tool enables users to record expenses with a simple push notification and a photograph of the receipt, and helps finance teams track expenses more accurately.
Revolut customers that are not Xero users can also take advantage of the expense management tool by creating their own categories and exporting expenses as a CSV file. Revolut noted that it plans to feature additional integrations to offer more accounting resources.
Making its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope in 2015, Revolut has grown into an alternative digital bank offering a mobile current account that can be used to hold, exchange, and transfer funds in 29 different currencies. without fees. The account includes a variety of financial management tools including budgeting, instant spending notifications, and a spare change “stash-away” feature to support incidental saving. More recently, Revolut has added stock trading functionality to its app.
The company launched Revolut for Business in 2017 to extend the benefits of digital, API-powered banking services and streamlined, affordable international payments to small businesses and freelancers. The initiative signed up 16,000 business accounts in three months and, in its first year, helped companies save more than $14 million in fees. Last month, the company announced that Revolut for Business would add two new business account plans with no monthly subscription fees. Revolut also made price structure changes to include a customizable model that gives businesses more control and a better value.
Founded in 2013 and headquartered in London, U.K., Revolut has raised more than $336 million in funding from investors including DST Global, Future Fifty, and Lakestar. Nikolay Storonsky is founder and CEO.