Revolut Bank launches in Portugal

Today, Revolut launches its bank in Portugal, with the ambition to become a key operator in the Portuguese banking sector, according to the executive chairman.

Financial services technology company fintech‘s app, Revolut, started as a bank in May 2020 in Lithuania and since then it has a banking license for 18 European countries. In addition to Portugal, today Revolut Bank is also launching in Italy and France.

Revolut Bank will not have physical branches, only a digital presence.

Revolut’s CEO, Joe Heneghan, said that the company already has 500,000 customers in Portugal and that, as of today, those who decide to transfer their money to Revolut Bank “have their deposits protected by the deposit guarantee fund”.

The manager said that a survey of clients in Portugal indicated that 56% would be prepared to receive their salary in to their Revolut account and would use more Revolut services if there were deposit protection.

“That’s why we are bringing this product first and will continue to develop our banking offering,” the executive president of this financial services technology company (‘fintech’) told Lusa news agency.

According to Joe Heneghan, in each market, Revolut “wants to become a key banking operator and Portugal is no exception”. For this, he said, it meets customer expectations by offering “fast, transparent and efficient” financial services.

On new financial services that the bank will make available, he said that there will be more soon but that, at the moment, he cannot divulge what they are. Revolut has not indicated the financial results of its business in Portugal either, or its medium and long-term goals.

Commenting on the criticism that banks operating in the Portuguese market are making, accusing new ‘fintech’ operators of not having to comply with the same requirements as them, Joe Heneghan said that Revolut Bank is a specialised bank licensed by the European Central Bank and regulated by the Bank Lithuania’s Central Bank, so it complies “with the same European regulatory requirements as any other bank”.

Asked about Revolut’s access to the Portuguese Multibanco network, the company’s official said that the company is in talks with SIBS (manager of the Multibanco network) and Banco de Portugal in this regard.

Revolut has considered that the lack of access to the SIBS network puts it “at a disadvantage compared to local banks”.

Revolut has been in existence for six years and has over 16 million customers worldwide. In Portugal it has around 200 workers and a work centre in Matosinhos, in Porto.

Lusa