Revolut Secures French Banking Licence: €1 Billion Investment and Dual-Hub Strategy Explained

These restrictions were never publicly lifted. The announcement of the French licence made no reference to them having been resolved . Bloomberg reported in July 2026 that the French entity was likely to launch with similar limits on new products . Analysts noted that the new approval arrived alongside that unresolved supervisory backdrop .

The Dual-Hub Model: France and Lithuania

Revolut already held an EU banking licence via its Lithuanian entity, Revolut Bank UAB, and had been "passporting" that licence across the EEA for cross-border services . The French licence does not replace it. The company described the setup as a dual-hub model, with both entities supervised by their national regulator and the ECB in parallel .

The French licence additionally allows Revolut to offer locally tailored services such as loans, mortgages, and regulated savings products that passporting alone did not enable . This is a critical difference: under the Lithuanian passport, Revolut could offer services cross-border, but local regulators often required a locally licensed entity for products like mortgages and regulated savings accounts.

UK and US Banking Licence Applications

Revolut's global regulatory push extends well beyond France:

• UK: Revolut secured its full UK banking licence on 11 March 2026 after a multi-year wait with the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). It is now shifting over 13 million UK customers onto its own banking books .
• US: Revolut applied for a US national bank charter in March 2026, filing with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) for a de novo charter as Revolut Bank US, N.A., committing $500 million to the US market. That application is still pending .

Valuation and Customer Base

Revolut was valued at $75 billion in a November 2024 secondary share sale . The company reported over 50 million customers globally as of early 2026, of which more than 13 million are in the UK . By August 2026, some reports cited over 75 million customers globally .

CEO Nik Storonsky's Rationale for Choosing France

Storonsky described France's regulatory framework under the ACPR and the ECB as providing the rigour needed to offer more sophisticated banking products. He noted that customers in Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, and Spain will gradually be migrated onto the French entity, enabling Revolut to offer local-currency services, loans, and regulated savings products that were previously harder to deliver through the Lithuanian passport alone .

Key Takeaways

• Second EU banking hub: France becomes Revolut's second full EU banking entity after Lithuania, under a dual-hub model.
• €1 billion commitment: The largest single-region investment in Revolut's history, with 600+ new hires.
• Unresolved ECB curbs: The 2025 product-launch restrictions remain in place at the Lithuanian entity, and may extend to the French hub.
• Growing global banking licence portfolio: With full licences now in the UK (March 2026) and France, and a US charter application pending, Revolut is building a multi-jurisdiction regulatory foundation.