The Bank of Lithuania, the eastern European country’s central bank, granted Revolut the regulatory approval that gives it permission to operate throughout the European Union.
While London has been a hotbed for financial technology startups, Brexit has driven many of these companies to seek licenses from other European jurisdictions. Once the UK leaves the EU British financial companies will no longer have the right to passport their regulatory approvals to other European jurisdictions.
Revolut joins a growing number of companies that have secured permission to offer banking accounts and loans. Others include Swedish payments company Klarna, Dutch payments company Adyen, as well as German startup N26.
Founded in 2015, Revolut has grown from a company that offered consumers a no-fee pre-paid debit card to use while traveling internationally to one that allows consumers to access services such as foreign currency exchanges, budgeting tools, as well as cryptocurrency wallet and exchange.
Revolut said it would target UK, France and Poland and look to passport its Lithuanian banking license to other jurisdictions.
The company has Luxembourg e-money license, which allows it to offer a much more limited set of products, and has previously said it will offer commission-free equity trading in the UK and Europe within 2019.
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