Digital bank Revolut is focused on its ongoing transformation into a fully-fledged bank with several key strategic developments in 2025.
Revolut recently announced a hiring spree in the United Kingdom, reportedly adding hundreds of staff to prepare for the “mobilization” phase of its UK banking license, secured with restrictions in July 2024 from the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA).
This milestone, detailed in announcements from Revolut, finally ended a three-year quest for regulatory approval, enabling the Fintech to offer lending products and protect customer deposits up to £85,000 under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).
Meanwhile, Revolut‘s global expansion plans and business model—blending digital assets, investing, and comprehensive financial services—continue to position it as a key player against competitors like Brazil’s Nubank.
The UK hiring initiative targets roles such as regulatory reporting analysts and financial risk controllers, with Revolut expecting to exit the mobilization phase by July of this year.
This phase involves building out IT systems, governance, and risk frameworks to meet PRA standards, a process Revolut’s UK CEO Francesca Carlesi called a “significant step forward” in its mission to become the “bank of choice” for UK customers.
With around 9 million reported UK users among its 45 million global base, Revolut’s focus on regulatory compliance reflects its intent to deepen market penetration in its home territory, where it has operated as an e-money institution since 2015.
Globally, Revolut is accelerating expansion into Asian and European markets.
In Europe, it leverages a Lithuanian banking license, while recent launches in Brazil, New Zealand, and Mexico—where it secured a banking license in 2024—demonstrate its ambition to rival Nubank’s dominance in Latin America.
Nubank, with 100 million customers primarily in Brazil, Mexico, as well as Colombia, has thrived by targeting underbanked populations with a localized approach.
Revolut, by contrast, pursues a more broader, multi-market strategy, offering services like cryptocurrency trading, stock investing, and low-cost FX transfers across 38 countries.
Ashley Thomas, Revolut’s Head of Strategy & Operations, noted at FinTech LIVE Singapore 2025 that this regulatory agility—securing licenses for diverse products—fuels its scalability, though it contrasts with Nubank’s significantly more selective market focus.
Revolut’s business model integrates digital assets, investing, and traditional banking into a single app, a “super app” approach that differentiates it from Nubank’s emphasis on core banking services.
With crypto trading once accounting for 30% of revenues (now 5% post-2022 downturn), Revolut’s diversification into savings, loans, as well as CFDs via partnerships like CMC Markets showcases its versatility.
This contrasts with Nubank’s narrower but highly profitable model, which hit $1 billion in profit in 2024.
Market dominance remains a contested arena for now at least.
Revolut’s $45 billion valuation from a 2024 secondary share sale is well above Nubank’s $56 billion market cap, yet Nubank’s customer base considerably outpaces that of Revolut’s.
Secondary share sales, a strategy Revolut employs to reward employees and raise capital without diluting control, underscore its financial agility.
As it eyes further penetration in Asian markets—Singapore being a foothold—and expands European offerings like local IBANs in Spain and Ireland, Revolut’s blend of innovation and regulatory persistence indicates that the company is focused on sustainable growth in major jurisdictions.
