Why a European banking licence will be a huge deal for your Revolut account

We started Revolut back in 2015 with a clear mission: to turn the financial sector on its head. In just two years, we’ve launched a host of new features from multi-currency accounts and fee-free money transfers to instant credit and shiny new business accounts.

But we’re not stopping there. In order to take Revolut to the next level and expand our services, we are incredibly pumped to announce that we have now applied for a European Banking Licence. 🎉

So, we thought it to be only appropriate to share some of the awesome new services and features that you can expect to see in 2018 as a result. 😱

Your money will be protected up to €100,000

One of the key benefits of obtaining a banking licence is that customer funds will be protected under the European Deposit Protection Scheme (EDPS).

The EDPS will cover your funds up to the first €100,000 or about £85,000 in the UK, which means that you can safely and confidently store higher balances in your Revolut account. 💰

Overdrafts and personal loans

Having to check your balance can become a tedious task, especially if you have to do it frequently. This is where an overdraft or personal loan can come in to help.

Our banking licence will allow us to offer Revolut users overdraft facilities, which means you’ll no longer have to deal with negative balances, automatic top-ups and the all-annoying ‘insufficient funds’ notification.

The licence will also bring personal loans to your Revolut account. These can help out when your budget can’t cover a bigger purchase, when you want to book that long-overdue holiday, or for anything else that requires a small cash injection before your next payday.

Direct debits

Unlike recurring payments, Direct Debits are the preferred option by more than half of the UK bill-payers. With the banking licence in place, Revolut will support direct debits for anything from your gym membership to your utility bills. ⚡

In-house payment processing

Around the same time as we hope the banking license application to be accepted, we should have built our own in-house payment processor that will allow us to offer our users a much more reliable service, significantly reducing the risk of outages that is not in our control.

Over the last two years, we have worked with some fantastic third-party providers who have helped Revolut find its legs, but we believe that now is the time to manage our payment processing internally as we approach 1m users and expand Revolut globally. 🌎

You’ll soon be able to fully bank with Revolut

Everything your regular bank account can do today, Revolut will do better! Even without a banking licence, tens of thousands of our users consider Revolut as their primary current account and spending card.

Applying for a European banking licence will enable us to offer fully functional current accounts that will be more compatible with your global lifestyle. To sum up, here are some of the things you will be able to do very soon as a Revolut user:

• Have your salary paid directly into your Revolut account.
• Set up and manage direct debits for your phone bill, car insurance etc.
• Use overdraft facilities and manage them directly from the Revolut app.
• Take out a personal loan at competitive rates when times are tough.
• Save up for a rainy day and earn attractive interest on your term deposits.

Whilst everyone here at Revolut HQ is incredibly excited for the next chapter to begin, we hope you share our enthusiasm and would like to thank you all for your support over these last two years. Together, we will build the future of finance. 💸

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