Revolut’s bid to become a fully operational bank in the U.K. is a crucial step in its global expansion and eventual initial public offering plans, its U.K. chief executive said.
Founded in 2015, Revolut runs an app that lets users make payments, trade assets and hold money. The fintech company competes with traditional banks for retail and business customers and was valued at $45 billion in an oversubscribed secondary share sale last November. This sets a floor for its valuation ahead of any IPO and puts it on par with the likes of NatWest and Deutsche Bank.
Revolut’s ambitions go further, its U.K. head, Francesca Carlesi, said in an interview. The company strives to be like Amazon AMZN 0.65%increase; green up pointing triangle, a global app available everywhere, but for global financial services, she added.
The U.K.–Revolut’s main market with a fifth of its more than 50 million customers–is key to those aspirations. After a three-year wait, it was granted a restricted banking licence by British regulators last July. Revolut UK is now in a phase of building and testing out its operations with a small pool of customers, Carlesi said, a common step for new entrants that usually lasts up to 12 months.