Revolut secures full French banking licence as it builds a Western European hub in Paris

Revolut has been granted a full banking licence in France following a joint assessment by the ACPR and the European Central Bank, giving the London-based fintech a second regulated European banking entity as it targets more than 30 million customers across Western Europe.

Revolut has received a full banking licence in France, awarded after a joint review by the ACPR, the French prudential regulator, and the European Central Bank. The new entity, Revolut Bank S.A., will begin serving customers across Europe on a phased basis, starting with France before extending to Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain.

The licence is a structural milestone rather than a financing event, but it reshapes how Revolut operates on the continent. The company is moving to a dual-hub model: its Lithuanian entity, Revolut Bank UAB, remains the cornerstone for the rest of the European Economic Area, while the new French entity anchors Western Europe. Both are supervised by their local competent authority and the ECB.

The French approval dovetails with Revolut's decision to open a new Western European headquarters in Paris in 2027. The company framed France as the base from which it intends to scale, citing the country's financial ecosystem and regulatory framework.

A full licence matters because it lets Revolut hold deposits and lend directly under its own authorisation, rather than passporting or partnering, deepening the balance sheet it can build in each market. That, in turn, supports the case for the valuation Revolut has carried through recent secondary discussions, where it has ranked among Europe's most valuable privately held fintechs.

"This licence gives us the foundation to build the next generation of banking for more than 30 million customers across Western Europe," said Nik Storonsky, founder and chief executive. He described France as "the ideal platform to accelerate Revolut's next phase of growth."

The French win is the latest in a run of regulatory approvals. Last month, Revolut was cleared to operate as a fully licensed bank in Australia after securing an Authorised Deposit-taking Institution licence from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority.

For a company that spent years operating across Europe without a domestic banking licence in several of its largest markets, the ACPR approval removes a long-standing constraint. The next test is execution: converting regulatory permission into deposits, lending margin and the kind of recurring revenue that would justify Revolut's standing on the cap tables of its late-stage backers.

Original source: UKTN — https://www.uktech.news/fintech/revolut-receives-french-banking-licence-20260810