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'''Revolut''' is a British ] company that offers banking services. Headquartered in ], it was founded in 2015 by ] and Vlad Yatsenko. It offers accounts featuring ], debit cards, virtual cards, ], interest-bearing "vaults", commission-free ], ], ], and other services. | '''Revolut''' is a British ] company that offers banking services. Headquartered in ], it was founded in 2015 by ] and Vlad Yatsenko. It offers accounts featuring ], debit cards, virtual cards, ], interest-bearing "vaults", commission-free ], ], ], and other services. | ||
Revolut has expanded into new markets such as Japan<ref name=":0" /> and expanded staff from 1500 to around 5000.<ref name=":1" /> In November 2020 it was breaking even<ref name=":2" /> and, with a £4.2 ] valuation became the UK's most valuable fintech company.<ref name=":3" /> In January 2021 it applied for a UK banking licence.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" /> A US$800 million funding round in July 2021 brought company's valuation to US$33 billion, making it the most valuable UK tech startup at the time.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Megaw |first=Nicholas |date=15 Jul 2021 |title=Revolut valued at $33bn after $800m fundraising |work=] |url=https://www.ft.com/content/4d7b739c-ffbb-4a29-ac5b-4e7dfddff5ae |access-date=15 Jul 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2021-07-15 |title=Revolut becomes most valuable UK start-up after £24bn valuation |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/business-57854969 |access-date=2021-07-16}}</ref><ref name="$33 billion"/><ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-01-13 |title=Checkout.com becomes |
Revolut has expanded into new markets such as Japan<ref name=":0" /> and expanded staff from 1500 to around 5000.<ref name=":1" /> In November 2020 it was breaking even<ref name=":2" /> and, with a £4.2 ] valuation became the UK's most valuable fintech company.<ref name=":3" /> In January 2021 it applied for a UK banking licence.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" /> A US$800 million funding round in July 2021 brought company's valuation to US$33 billion, making it the most valuable UK tech startup at the time.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Megaw |first=Nicholas |date=15 Jul 2021 |title=Revolut valued at $33bn after $800m fundraising |work=] |url=https://www.ft.com/content/4d7b739c-ffbb-4a29-ac5b-4e7dfddff5ae |access-date=15 Jul 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2021-07-15 |title=Revolut becomes most valuable UK start-up after £24bn valuation |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/business-57854969 |access-date=2021-07-16}}</ref><ref name="$33 billion"/><ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-01-13 |title=Checkout.com becomes UK's most valuable fintech at $40bn |url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/jan/13/checkoutcom-becomes-uks-most-valuable-fintech-at-40bn |access-date=2022-01-16 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}</ref> | ||
== History == | == History == | ||
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In March 2022, after ], Storonsky publicly opposed the war in Ukraine and Revolut donated £1.5 million to the ] Ukraine appeal.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hyatt |first=John |title=Russian-Born Billionaire Behind Revolut Fintech App Publishes Anti-War Letter |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnhyatt/2022/03/01/revoluts-russian-anti-war-billionaire-founder-promises-to-match-donations-to-red-cross-ukraine/ |access-date=2022-03-07 |website=] |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-03-11 |title=Revolut raises €10 million for Red Cross Ukraine appeal |url=https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/39851/revolut-raises-10-million-for-red-cross-ukraine-appeal |access-date=2022-05-12 |website=Finextra Research |language=en}}</ref> Since March 2022, Revolut has more than 18 million customers around the world and more than 150 million transactions a month.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-03-25 |title=Revolut strengthens US growth and marketing with two new leadership hires |url=https://www.revolut.com/news/revolut_strengthens_us_growth_and_marketing_with_two_new_leadership_hires |access-date=2022-04-18 |website=Revolut |language=en-US}}</ref> | In March 2022, after ], Storonsky publicly opposed the war in Ukraine and Revolut donated £1.5 million to the ] Ukraine appeal.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hyatt |first=John |title=Russian-Born Billionaire Behind Revolut Fintech App Publishes Anti-War Letter |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnhyatt/2022/03/01/revoluts-russian-anti-war-billionaire-founder-promises-to-match-donations-to-red-cross-ukraine/ |access-date=2022-03-07 |website=] |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-03-11 |title=Revolut raises €10 million for Red Cross Ukraine appeal |url=https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/39851/revolut-raises-10-million-for-red-cross-ukraine-appeal |access-date=2022-05-12 |website=Finextra Research |language=en}}</ref> Since March 2022, Revolut has more than 18 million customers around the world and more than 150 million transactions a month.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-03-25 |title=Revolut strengthens US growth and marketing with two new leadership hires |url=https://www.revolut.com/news/revolut_strengthens_us_growth_and_marketing_with_two_new_leadership_hires |access-date=2022-04-18 |website=Revolut |language=en-US}}</ref> | ||
In September 2022, Revolut confirmed a cyber attack exposed personal data of tens of thousands of users.<ref>https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/revolut-hack-exposes-data-of-50-000-users-fuels-new-phishing-wave/</ref> | In September 2022, Revolut confirmed a cyber attack exposed personal data of tens of thousands of users.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/revolut-hack-exposes-data-of-50-000-users-fuels-new-phishing-wave/ | title=Revolut hack exposes data of 50,000 users, fuels new phishing wave }}</ref> | ||
==Services== | ==Services== | ||
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===Employment practices=== | ===Employment practices=== | ||
In March 2019, ] published an exposé of the company's employment practices and work culture. This found evidence of unpaid work, high staff turnover and employees being ordered to work weekends to meet ]s.<ref>{{Cite |
In March 2019, ] published an exposé of the company's employment practices and work culture. This found evidence of unpaid work, high staff turnover and employees being ordered to work weekends to meet ]s.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.co.uk/article/revolut-trade-unions-labour-fintech-politics-storonsky|title=Revolut insiders reveal the human cost of a fintech unicorn's wild rise|last=Mellino|first=Emiliano|date=28 February 2019|magazine=Wired|access-date=1 March 2019|language=en-UK}}</ref> A later article in December 2019 by ''Sifted'' noted that Revolut had a higher rating than its peers on ].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://sifted.eu/articles/challenger-banks-monzo-starling-revolut-n26-compared/|title=Digital banks Monzo, Revolut, Starling and N26 compared|website=Sifted|date=18 December 2019|language=en-GB|access-date=20 December 2019}}</ref> | ||
In June 2020, ''Wired'' published a further exposé of Revolut's dismissal of employees during the ], in which employees, particularly in ], were given the choice of being terminated for underperformance or a mutual agreement to leave the company voluntarily, in order to reduce the headline number of 62 redundancies announced by Revolut. The report explained that "Current and former Revolut employees say staff were coerced into accepting terminations, even though the company had no legal grounds to fire them" and that employees in ] were pressured into agreeing to a salary sacrifice scheme in order to keep their jobs.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Emiliano |first1=Mellino |title=Revolut staff claim they've been told to quit their jobs or be fired |url=https://www.wired.co.uk/article/revolut-employment-coronavirus |access-date=5 June 2020 |magazine=Wired |date=4 June 2020}}</ref> According to ''Wired'', in a message sent to the 495-strong customer support team on ] shortly after the salary sacrifice scheme was announced, head of support Inna Grynova urged them to participate: | In June 2020, ''Wired'' published a further exposé of Revolut's dismissal of employees during the ], in which employees, particularly in ], were given the choice of being terminated for underperformance or a mutual agreement to leave the company voluntarily, in order to reduce the headline number of 62 redundancies announced by Revolut. The report explained that "Current and former Revolut employees say staff were coerced into accepting terminations, even though the company had no legal grounds to fire them" and that employees in ] were pressured into agreeing to a salary sacrifice scheme in order to keep their jobs.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Emiliano |first1=Mellino |title=Revolut staff claim they've been told to quit their jobs or be fired |url=https://www.wired.co.uk/article/revolut-employment-coronavirus |access-date=5 June 2020 |magazine=Wired |date=4 June 2020}}</ref> According to ''Wired'', in a message sent to the 495-strong customer support team on ] shortly after the salary sacrifice scheme was announced, head of support Inna Grynova urged them to participate: |
Revision as of 16:15, 22 September 2022
Financial technology companyCompany type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Financial technology |
Founded | 1 July 2015; 9 years ago (2015-07-01) |
Founder | Nikolay Storonsky Vlad Yatsenko |
Headquarters | London, England, UK |
Key people | Nikolay Storonsky (CEO) Vlad Yatsenko (CTO) |
Products | current accounts, debit cards, stock trading, currency exchange, foreign exchange, insurance |
Services | Peer-to-peer payments, currency exchange |
Revenue | £222.1 million (2020) |
Net income | -£206 million (2020) |
Number of employees | 3,500 (2022) |
Website | revolut |
Revolut is a British financial technology company that offers banking services. Headquartered in London, it was founded in 2015 by Nikolay Storonsky and Vlad Yatsenko. It offers accounts featuring currency exchange, debit cards, virtual cards, Apple Pay, interest-bearing "vaults", commission-free stock trading, crypto, commodities, and other services.
Revolut has expanded into new markets such as Japan and expanded staff from 1500 to around 5000. In November 2020 it was breaking even and, with a £4.2 billion valuation became the UK's most valuable fintech company. In January 2021 it applied for a UK banking licence. A US$800 million funding round in July 2021 brought company's valuation to US$33 billion, making it the most valuable UK tech startup at the time.
History
Revolut was founded on 1 July 2015 by Nikolay Storonsky from Russia and Vlad Yatsenko from Ukraine. The company was originally based in Level39, a financial technology incubator in Canary Wharf, London.
On 26 April 2018, Revolut raised $250 million in Series C funding. It had a post-funding valuation of US$1.7 billion, making it a unicorn. DST Global was founded by Yuri Milner, who has been backed by the Kremlin in his previous investments.
In December 2018, Revolut secured a Challenger bank licence from the European Central Bank, facilitated by the Bank of Lithuania, authorising it to accept deposits and offer consumer credits, but not to provide investment services. At the same time, an Electronic Money Institution licence was also issued by the Bank of Lithuania.
In March 2019 Revolut united with Dax, the same year the company's chief financial officer Peter O'Higgins resigned. TechCrunch reported that he had quit following allegations of compliance lapses, however Revolut denied that he had left for these reasons.
In July 2019, Revolut launched commission-free stock trading on the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ, initially for customers in its Metal plan. This was subsequently made available to all users.
In August 2019, the company announced several hires with experience in traditional banking, including Wolfgang Bardorf, formerly executive director at Goldman Sachs and the global head of liquidity models and methodologies at Deutsche Bank, Philip Doyle, previously head of financial crime at ClearBank and fraud prevention manager at Visa, and Stefan Wille, previously senior vice-president of finance at N26 and corporate finance manager at Credit Suisse.
In October 2019, the company announced a global deal with Visa, following which it expanded into 24 new markets and hired around 3500 additional staff.
In February 2020, Revolut completed a funding round that more than tripled its value, valuing the company at £4.2 billion and becoming the United Kingdom's most valuable financial technology startup.
In March 2020, Revolut was launched in the United States. In August, the company launched its financial app in Japan.
In November 2020, Revolut became profitable.
In January 2021, the company announced that it had applied for a UK banking licence. In March 2021, Revolut applied for a bank charter in the US via applications with the FDIC and the California Department of Financial Protection.
In July 2021, Revolut raised US$800 million from investors, including SoftBank Group and Tiger Global Management, at a US$33 billion valuation.
In January 2022, Revolut launched as a bank (instead of an e-money institution) in 10 additional European countries: Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Lichtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Spain, and Sweden.
In March 2022, after Russia invaded Ukraine, Storonsky publicly opposed the war in Ukraine and Revolut donated £1.5 million to the Red Cross Ukraine appeal. Since March 2022, Revolut has more than 18 million customers around the world and more than 150 million transactions a month.
In September 2022, Revolut confirmed a cyber attack exposed personal data of tens of thousands of users.
Services
Revolut offers banking services including GBP and EUR bank accounts, debit cards, fee-free currency exchange, stock trading, cryptocurrency exchange and peer-to-peer payments. Revolut's mobile app supports spending and ATM withdrawals in 120 currencies and transfers in 29 currencies directly from the app. Payments at weekends incur an extra fee of 0.5% to 2% protecting them against exchange rate fluctuations.
It also provides customers access to cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, and XRP by exchanging with 25 fiat currencies. A fee of 1.5% for buying or selling applies. Crypto cannot be deposited or spent, only converted back to fiat inside Revolut. Additionally, Revolut banks with Metropolitan Commercial Bank of New York, who do not allow the transfer of Fiat money to or from cryptocurrency exchanges.
It provides an equities trading facility, with access to a range of US stocks and fractional share purchase/sale. Stocks purchased in the app cannot be transferred to another broker, but must be sold/converted back to cash, which can then be withdrawn.
Controversies
Automated suspension of accounts
Revolut, in common with traditional financial institutions, uses algorithms to identify money laundering, fraud and other criminal activity, but unlike the rest of the banking industry, Revolut's algorithms additionally trigger an automated suspension of accounts. Revolut explains that "the system is programmed to temporarily lock an account and place it in a queue, until one of our compliance agents can review the case".
It was reported in the past that Revolut's algorithms suspend accounts in error for weeks or months at a time because Revolut did not have sufficient compliance agents to review the automated suspensions sooner. While Revolut paid no interest on the large suspended balances, it could earn interest on the funds in wholesale money markets. Customers whose accounts were suspended were blocked from contacting Revolut's usual chat support channel and instead received automated responses from a chatbot. The Daily Telegraph reported in February 2020 that Revolut suspended an account containing £90,000 for more than two months and that another customer travelled 500 miles from Auvergne in France to Revolut's London offices in an unsuccessful attempt to recover £15,000 in an account that Revolut had similarly frozen without any justification being given. In a further case reported by The Times, Revolut suspended and subsequently closed a business account containing €300,000 belonging to Priorité Energie, which "helps low-income families in Paris to insulate their homes under a government initiative", preventing the company from paying its staff.
According to Finews.com, Revolut's public internet forums in 2020 contained almost 500 complaints by customers about locked accounts and a lack of response from Revolut's support team.
Employment practices
In March 2019, Wired published an exposé of the company's employment practices and work culture. This found evidence of unpaid work, high staff turnover and employees being ordered to work weekends to meet performance indicators. A later article in December 2019 by Sifted noted that Revolut had a higher rating than its peers on Glassdoor.
In June 2020, Wired published a further exposé of Revolut's dismissal of employees during the COVID-19 pandemic, in which employees, particularly in Kraków, were given the choice of being terminated for underperformance or a mutual agreement to leave the company voluntarily, in order to reduce the headline number of 62 redundancies announced by Revolut. The report explained that "Current and former Revolut employees say staff were coerced into accepting terminations, even though the company had no legal grounds to fire them" and that employees in Porto were pressured into agreeing to a salary sacrifice scheme in order to keep their jobs. According to Wired, in a message sent to the 495-strong customer support team on Slack shortly after the salary sacrifice scheme was announced, head of support Inna Grynova urged them to participate:
“So far, almost 20 per cent of our employees globally have submitted their sacrifices. In Support we’ve gathered only 44 submitions (out of 495 employees) which is a very small number. Our goal is to use SSS as an alternative to the need of employees redundancy and other cost cuts. So the success of SSS depends on all of us. If it won’t be enough, unfortunately we would need to go for the other steps, which we’ll try to avoid. The positive impact of SSS can be achieved only when we work together.”
See also
References
- ^ "Revolut company profile". AngelList. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
- "Digital bank Revolut valued at $33 billion in funding round led by SoftBank and Tiger Global". CNBC. 15 July 2021. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
- "Revolut wins over more customers and revenue, even as its losses mount". Business Insider. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
- "Revolut Hiring Spree Continues Apace". efinancialcareers. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
- ^ "Revolut launches its financial app in Japan". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2020-09-08.
- ^ Short, Eva (30 September 2019). "New deal with Visa will see Revolut hire thousands, expand into 24 markets". Silicon Republic. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
- ^ Browne, Ryan (2020-12-08). "Revolut, Europe's $5.5 billion digital bank, quietly broke even in November". CNBC. Retrieved 2020-12-11.
- ^ Makortoff, Kalyeena (25 February 2020). "Digital bank Revolut becomes UK's most valuable fintech startup". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
- ^ "Revolut Applies for U.K. Banking License". January 11, 2021 – via www.bloomberg.com.
- ^ "Challenger bank Revolut bids to take on high street". www.standard.co.uk. January 11, 2021.
- Megaw, Nicholas (15 Jul 2021). "Revolut valued at $33bn after $800m fundraising". Financial Times. Retrieved 15 Jul 2021.
- "Revolut becomes most valuable UK start-up after £24bn valuation". BBC News. 2021-07-15. Retrieved 2021-07-16.
- ^ Metcalf, Tom; Spezzati, Stefania (15 July 2021). "Revolut Draws SoftBank Investment to Hit $33 Billion Value". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 7 August 2021.
- "Checkout.com becomes UK's most valuable fintech at $40bn". the Guardian. 2022-01-13. Retrieved 2022-01-16.
- "Vlad Yatsenko, a Ukrainian who co-founded Revolut, becomes a billionaire after an $800M round and a $33B valuation". AIN.UA. 2021-07-16. Retrieved 2021-07-27.
- Dan, Enriques (29 April 2018). "Are You Ready To Give Fintech A Try?". Forbes. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
- Munford, Monty (26 April 2018). "Revolut launches current accounts and a chatbot". Forbes. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
- Drucker, Jesse (5 November 2017). "Kremlin Cash Behind Billionaire's Twitter and Facebook Investments". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
- "Revolut granted specialised bank and electronic money institution licences". Bank Of Lithuania. 13 December 2018. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
- Megaw, Nicholas (13 December 2018). "Lithuania licence lets Revolut launch banking products". Financial Times. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
- Russell, Joe. "Revolut CFO resigns following money laundering controversy". TechCrunch. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
- "Let me set the record straight". Revolut Blog. 1 March 2019. Retrieved 14 October 2019.
- "Revolut launches commission-free share trading". Financial Times. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
- "Should you trade stocks for free with Revolut?". Which? News. 24 September 2019. Retrieved 14 October 2019.
- "Revolut bolsters senior team with banking executives". Financial Times. 23 August 2019. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
- West, Chad (24 March 2020). "Revolut launches in the United States 🦅". Revolut Blog.
- "Revolut applies for bank charter in the US". TechCrunch. March 22, 2021.
- "Revolut launches as a bank in 10 Western European countries". Finextra Research. 2022-01-11. Retrieved 2022-01-16.
- Hyatt, John. "Russian-Born Billionaire Behind Revolut Fintech App Publishes Anti-War Letter". Forbes. Retrieved 2022-03-07.
- "Revolut raises €10 million for Red Cross Ukraine appeal". Finextra Research. 2022-03-11. Retrieved 2022-05-12.
- "Revolut strengthens US growth and marketing with two new leadership hires". Revolut. 2022-03-25. Retrieved 2022-04-18.
- "Revolut hack exposes data of 50,000 users, fuels new phishing wave".
- Dillet, Romain (20 July 2015). "Revolut Raises $2.3 Million For Its Mobile Foreign Exchange Service". TechCrunch. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
- "What foreign exchange rate will I get? | Revolut Help Centre". www.revolut.com.
- "Revolut adds XRP and Bitcoin Cash support". TechCrunch. 2018-05-24. Retrieved 2021-04-14.
- Peters, Jay (2020-03-24). "Popular European banking app Revolut is launching in the US today". The Verge. Retrieved 2021-07-13.
- Braileanu, Rob (25 June 2018). "Why has my account been locked and how to regain access?". Revolut. Revolut Ltd. Retrieved 23 February 2020.
- Marks, Oliver (17 January 2019). "Revolut's clumsy automated bank compliance results in frozen accounts and lack of customer service". ZDNet. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 23 February 2020.
- Barker, Sam (21 January 2020). "Revolut customers locked out of accounts 'for weeks'". The Telegraph. The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 23 February 2020.
- Palmer, Kate (8 February 2020). "Monzo and Revolut: customer complaints are mounting at digital banks". The Times. Retrieved 23 February 2020.
- Hunt, Marianna (25 January 2000). "Revolut could face lawsuit from customers locked out of their accounts. One UK customer had £12,000 frozen in their limited company account, and issued a Writ for the release of their funds, Revolut paid on the last day. This seems to be getting worse in uk". The Telegraph. The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 23 February 2020.
- Hunt, Marianna (24 January 2020). "Ex-UCL lecturer forced to travel to London from France in attempts to unblock digital bank account". The Telegraph. The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
- Dunkley, Emma (23 February 2020). "Nikolay Storonsky's Revolut freezes accounts in money-laundering bungle". The Times. Retrieved 23 February 2020.
- "Revolut: Blocked Accounts". finews.com. finews AG. 1 September 2020. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
- Mellino, Emiliano (28 February 2019). "Revolut insiders reveal the human cost of a fintech unicorn's wild rise". Wired. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
- "Digital banks Monzo, Revolut, Starling and N26 compared". Sifted. 18 December 2019. Retrieved 20 December 2019.
- Emiliano, Mellino (4 June 2020). "Revolut staff claim they've been told to quit their jobs or be fired". Wired. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
External links
- Official website
- Media related to Revolut at Wikimedia Commons