Revolut gains French banking license to hub Western Europe operations
The company will invest over €1 billion in France to expand its workforce and transition customers to full-service banking.
Revolut's 7 million customers in France are transitioning from using a fintech application to holding accounts at a full-service bank. On Monday, 10 August 2026, the British fintech announced it had obtained a full banking license in France, granted following reviews by the Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution (ACPR) and the European Central Bank. This regulatory shift allows the company to move beyond simple account management and begin offering high-margin financial products, specifically credit, savings, and mortgages, to the French market.
The license is the cornerstone of a broader operational migration. Revolut is transforming its Paris presence into a hub for Western Europe, intending to serve more than 30 million clients across the region. Under this new structure, customers in Germany, Italy, Spain, Ireland, and Portugal will be progressively moved to the French entity.
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According to company communications cited by Challenges and Watson, this creates a modèle bancaire européen à deux pôles
(European two-pole banking model), where the French hub handles Western Europe while the existing Lithuanian entity continues to cover the rest of the European Economic Area.
To support this transition, Revolut has committed an investment of more than €1 billion over three years in France. The company plans to open a new Paris headquarters in 2027 and increase its local workforce to approximately 650 employees. This hiring surge is not merely for commercial expansion; reporting from Challenges and Watson indicates the company specifically intends to grow its compliance and anti-money laundering teams to police financial crime.
This regulatory victory follows a period of protracted uncertainty. While Revolut has operated under a Lithuanian license since 2018, it faced years of waiting before finally securing a banking license in the United Kingdom in March.
| Metric | Value/Status |
|---|---|
| Latest Pre-tax Profit | £1.7 billion (up 57%) |
| 2025 Net Profit | £1.3 billion |
| Current Valuation | $115 billion |
| Global Client Base | 75 million+ |
| Global Client Target | 100 million |
The gap between Revolut's valuation and its regulatory history remains a point of tension. The company's rapid expansion—described by Journal du Net as fulgurante
—has frequently led to criticism regarding its ability to comply with strict financial regulations.
"Portée par un écosystème financier dynamique et un cadre réglementaire robuste, la France s’est imposée comme une place financière de premier plan"
Nikolay Storonsky, CEO, via Challenges
The company is not yet seeking a public listing; information reported by the Financial Times indicates that an initial public offering is not envisioned before 2028. The immediate priority remains the pursuit of a banking license in the United States.
This French license is the second the company has secured within the European Union. According to Challenges, CEO Nikolay Storonsky stated that the license nous donne les moyens de bâtir une banque d'une nouvelle génération au service de plus de 30 millions de clients en Europe de l'Ouest
(gives us the means to build a new generation bank serving more than 30 million clients in Western Europe).
Investment strategies in France have expanded since the initial €1 billion commitment. During the Choose France summit in June 2026, Revolut announced an additional €100 million in investments to be deployed by 2030. This funding supports the recruitment of 200 additional staff members, primarily focused on commercial development and the fight against financial crime, according to Le Journal des Entreprises.
Financial reports provided by TF1 Info show the group recorded revenues of £4.5 billion in its last published fiscal year. The current valuation of $115 billion was reached following a secondary share sale in late July, according to a source close to the operation cited by AFP.
The rollout of the Western European hub will follow a specific sequence. The French entity will first begin serving its domestic clients before extending services to those in Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Ireland. While these markets migrate, the Lithuanian entity will maintain its central role for the remaining European Economic Area.
The company now faces the challenge of integrating these diverse Western European markets into its new Parisian hub while simultaneously pursuing a banking license in the United States.
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