Revolut has received conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for a US national bank charter, the first of three regulatory clearances it needs before opening an American bank. The Canary Wharf company was valued at $115bn in a secondary share sale in July.
The approval, disclosed on 3 September, is a preliminary step rather than a licence. Revolut must still secure sign-off from the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation before it can open the proposed Revolut Bank US, which it plans to launch as soon as next year.
"Conditional OCC approval is an important first step towards establishing the proposed Revolut Bank US," said founder and chief executive Nik Storonsky. "It gives us the foundation to build in the world's largest financial market and bring the full Revolut experience to millions of Americans."
This is Revolut's second attempt at a US permit. The first, filed in March 2021 at state level through Californian regulators, was withdrawn by late 2023 after years of regulatory friction. That period included a $20m loss caused by a flaw in the company's US payment system and questions over its internal financial controls.
The UK's largest fintech has had a materially better year on the regulatory front elsewhere. It secured its full UK banking licence in 2026 after a four-year wait, and obtained a fresh permit from the European Central Bank.
On the cap table, Revolut confirmed a $115bn valuation in a July employee share sale, up from the $75bn established in its previous secondary. The company has been reported to be eyeing a valuation of up to $200bn at an eventual initial public offering, which would make it among the most valuable listings ever attempted by a European technology business.
The US charter matters to that arithmetic. Deposit-taking in the United States would give Revolut access to a domestic funding base and a product set it cannot offer under partner-bank arrangements, and it addresses the geographic concentration risk that public-market investors are likely to probe.
Several European peers have failed at exactly this stage. Within a fortnight, the OCC blocked applications from both Wise and Bunq, Europe's second-largest neobank. Wise, which moved its primary listing to the US last year and has operated there since 2015 under a money transmitter licence, was rejected on the grounds of "significant supervisory and compliance concerns" over its anti-money laundering controls. Bunq was told to produce a plan more specifically built for the US market; the regulator also appeared unconvinced by chief executive Ali Niknam's proposal to run the US arm on a part-time basis.
Others have left altogether. Monzo confirmed earlier this year that it had abandoned its US operations to concentrate on Europe under new chief executive Diana Layfield. Payments platform Zilch said in its 2024 accounts that it had curtailed its US business after opening its buy now, pay later product to a waitlist of more than 150,000 Americans in 2022.
Original source: City AM
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/GettyImages-10535138361-0fb67d6164144c0783d240a4ecd86515.jpg)
