Revolut promises 1,000 jobs and 3 billion on London
At the opening of the new headquarters in Canary Wharf, founder Storonky made the pitch for a permanent banking licence in the UK
2' min read
Key points
2' min read
Revolut has pledged toinvest £3 billion in Britain and create 1,000 jobs. The pledge is the fintech bank's final effort to obtain a full banking licence in the UK, which it has been waiting many years for.
L’annuncio
Nik Storonsky, billionaire CEO of the financial technology startup, one of the few true European unicorns, said Revolut will invest the sum over the next five years. He said this yesterday at the inauguration of the company's headquarters in Canary Wharf. It is believed that a significant part of the funding is intended to help its UK bank achieve full capitalisation, with the aim of obtaining a full banking licence. Revolut obtained a partial banking licence last year, after a three-year wait. However, the licence remains provisional, restricting the company from offering key lending products such as mortgages and from holding larger customer deposits.
The lobbying of Rachel Reeves
.The status of the London-based company's banking licence has become highly political following allegations that Rachel Reeves tried to intervene in the process on behalf of the company. In July, Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England, blocked an attempt by Ms Reeves to arrange a meeting between the UK's largest fintech company and City regulators in an attempt to expedite approval. The Chancellor tried to arrange the meeting as part of her attempts to persuade the$75bn (£55bn) British company to list in London rather than New York.
Bank numbers
.Storonsky is fresh from its recent success in Italy, where it became the fifth largest national bank, and continues to grow in its home country: it has 11 million customers in the UK, the bank's largest market.
Ms Reeves attended the opening of Revolut's new headquarters at the YY building in the heart of London's financial district.
