The Big Question: Can Revolut continue to grow without a French banking licence?

euronews (in English)

The Big Question: Can Revolut continue to grow without a French banking licence?  Béatrice Cossa-Dumurgier said that while additional European licences would support Revolut’s business operations, the focus is on meeting customer needs through innovation.  READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/10/20/the-big-question-can-revolut-continue-to-grow-without-a-french-banking-licence  Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages

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00:00We are actually the first truly pan-European digital bank.

00:04When we have a problem to crack, we just crack it.

00:07We will do it in a way which is so innovative that everyone will say, wow.

00:19Welcome to The Big Question, the series from Euronews,

00:22where we sit down with some of the biggest names in business.

00:26I'm Elena Butler, and today I'm joined by Beatrice Cossard-Dumergier,

00:32Revolut's Western Europe CEO.

00:34So first of all, thank you for being here, Beatrice, really appreciate it.

00:38Revolut is a neobank, but can you tell us exactly what makes it different from traditional banks?

00:45A neobank is actually a bank that predominantly operates online,

00:50and what differentiates us from traditional banks is this very innovative mindset.

00:56We want to simplify the life of our customers when we provide financial services

01:01in a very innovative manner.

01:04So always providing them with an offer which is convenient and affordable.

01:10And something that differentiates us as well from other neobanks

01:15is that we are truly global,

01:17and we are actually the first truly pan-European digital bank.

01:23And last year, Revolut was the number one finance app in 19 European countries in terms of downloads.

01:29Tell me, what is the secret to Revolut's success?

01:32So the secret of the success is very simple.

01:34It's customer focus.

01:36We want to be, we have been, we will be, we are extremely customer focus.

01:41This is our only and single priority.

01:45And Revolut recently hit 65 million customers,

01:55which is incredibly impressive for a bank that's only a decade old.

01:59I wonder, can you tell me what's next?

02:02We want to hit the 100 million customer targets in 2027.

02:09For that, we will be investing 11.5 billion euro in the coming years.

02:13So there is nothing to stop us, actually.

02:16So we operate in 65 countries, and we have been profitable since 2022.

02:23And Europe represents two-thirds of Revolut business.

02:26We serve more than 40 million customers in all European countries.

02:32The strongest market, the largest market in Europe is France,

02:35and it's also the fastest growing market.

02:38So we have decided to set up in France a hub, a second hub,

02:43so based in Paris, to cover all Western European countries.

02:48Besides France, it will be Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Ireland.

02:53And do you believe that being based in those countries

02:57is going to support you in your search for banking licences,

03:01for example, in France?

03:02We already have one based in Lithuania,

03:06and we have applied for a second banking licence

03:08to be able to cover these six Western European countries out of France.

03:14We are in the process of getting this licence.

03:16Trust in banking is just key.

03:18So being exposed to very demanding regulators,

03:21the French one is a very demanding regulator,

03:24it's actually excellent for us,

03:26because it allows us to strengthen our operations globally.

03:31Some customers may still choose traditional banks over Revolut

03:34because they're worried about the security of their money.

03:38Do you still think that customers are cautious

03:41about putting large savings into Revolut accounts?

03:44Actually, Revolut has started as an e-money business

03:48and deliberately being, you know, the second bank

03:52and not the primary bank.

03:53And what we observe is that more and more

03:56we are becoming the primary bank for our customers

04:00because more and more we are proposing products and services

04:05that simplify their life, addresses their needs,

04:09and we are doing it in a very consistent and innovative manner.

04:15And the growth actually is the result of that success.

04:20How does Revolut maintain its reputation, though,

04:23when there are safety issues that come up?

04:25Because I know that there have been issues of financial fraud with the app.

04:30What is Revolut doing to keep customers safe?

04:33We are investing a lot in fraud fighting.

04:36This is a top priority for us.

04:39Out of the 13,000 people working for Revolut worldwide,

04:44about a third are working on anti-financial crime measures,

04:50fighting against fin crime, fighting against terrorist financing,

04:55and also fighting against fraud,

04:56because all of this is totally interlinked.

04:59And because we are a truly pan-European player,

05:03we also have a unique visibility of some fraud patterns

05:07that happens to be, you know, cross-border,

05:11because fraudsters don't care about borders.

05:13We have probably the best data scientists in the world working for us,

05:18so we are developing machine learning models

05:20to identify fraud, identify fraud patterns,

05:24and be in a position to cut that very upfront and to inform customers.

05:31So, for example, we have developed recently a feature, an in-app call,

05:36so when we notice something weird happening,

05:39then there is an in-app call so that the customer can feel safe,

05:42because the call comes from the Revolut app itself.

05:45That says, look, this looks weird,

05:47so you should be maybe careful about, you know,

05:51wiring this money from point A to point B.

05:54So we are developing a lot of awareness features

05:57on top of our own LLM models

06:01that identify fraud patterns

06:03and actually cut them from the very beginning.

06:06And I know that Revolut is looking to expand its services,

06:10for example, by offering mortgages to customers.

06:13What are the challenges for Revolut here?

06:15So mortgages is a way to address the needs of a customer segment,

06:21which is very important for us,

06:23which is 35 years old and plus.

06:26Today we've been extremely successful in the customer segment,

06:30which is 18 to 35,

06:33which is about 50% of our customer pool worldwide.

06:38So being able to provide mortgages is a way

06:41to address the needs of the next, you know, customer segment.

06:45So the challenge here is definitely

06:50that you do not grant a mortgage the same way in Germany,

06:53in Italy, in France or in Spain, for example.

06:57And this is due to the fact that in Europe,

07:00even though there is the willingness to build a banking union,

07:05you still have some harmonization to do

07:09in terms of regulation, in terms of product offering.

07:12We have been very successful in the past 10 years, despite that.

07:16So I don't see any challenge.

07:18It's just, as always, when we have, you know,

07:21a problem to crack, we just crack it.

07:24So we go down to the root cause,

07:26and then we say, look, what's the best way

07:28to provide a fantastic customer journey

07:31for a French customer or for a German customer

07:33when he or she wants to buy a house.

07:36And we will do it.

07:37And we will do it in a way which is so innovative

07:40that everyone will say, wow.

07:43Sure.

07:44Thank you, Beatrice.

07:45That's all we have time for today,

07:46but it's been a pleasure having you on The Big Questions.

07:48Definitely.

07:49Thank you very much.

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