Revolut reached a $115 billion valuation in private markets. The London-based company is now worth more than Britain's Barclays and France's Societe Generale, making it Europe's most valuable startup. Investors are betting its technology platform can attract more customers around the world.
The fintech launched just over a decade ago, promising cheaper foreign-exchange fees. Now it challenges banking giants with centuries of history. Revolut reported 2025 pretax profit of £1.7 billion ($2.2 billion), a fraction of Barclays' £9 billion, though its own profit is rising fast. The Reuters report used an exchange rate of $1 to 0.7573 pounds.
Incumbents Take Notice
Established banks are watching closely. In June, Paulo Macedo, CEO of Portugal's biggest bank, Caixa Geral de Depósitos, said 2025 would be the last year the 150-year-old bank recorded higher profit than Revolut. “When you go to Europe the bank CEOs there are talking about Revolut as their most important threat because of their aggressive marketing and growth,” said Cihan Duran, director at S&P Global Ratings.
CEO Nik Storonsky has made clear he wants Revolut to become truly global. The company is pushing into markets from Mexico to Australia and has announced several new licences in recent weeks. It wants to join the handful of banks with retail operations across so much of the globe. Some traditional lenders seen as global, including HSBC, are cutting their retail footprint.
Revolut's website lists 80 million customers, compared with 84 million for JPMorgan and 41 million for HSBC. In Ireland, the company says 80% of the adult population has a Revolut account.
The Lending Question
Growth, rather than traditional banking, underpins the valuation. Revolut earns only a fraction of established competitors' revenue per customer, and customers hold much smaller average deposit balances than they do at traditional banks. Its loans totalled £2.2 billion at end-2025. The loan-to-deposit ratio stood at 6%, against 55% for HSBC and 86% for Societe Generale.
A Revolut spokesperson said in an email that the company has a “diversified business model,” earning revenue from various products and services instead of lending. “That means our growth depends on building things customers value, rather than on interest rates,” the spokesperson said. Fees, including card subscriptions, help drive the business.
More lending would bring risks of its own. Analysts and investors pointed to the challenge of managing large, complex credit exposures and entering fiercely competitive local mortgage markets. Executives admit too few customers use the app as their primary bank account. Revolut didn't say in its latest results how many did so in 2025, but reported that the figure had risen 45% from a year earlier. Its biggest backers are focused on primary-account adoption and total customer balances. Alex Immerman, an investor at Andreessen Horowitz, known as “a16z,” told Reuters the firm was watching both measures.
In the United States, where Revolut holds a provisional licence, investors expect tougher competition. “The US could be potentially the biggest growth for Revolut. But at the same time, the US is the most competitive market,” said Konstantin Sidorov, CEO of the London Technology Club, which invested when Revolut was valued at just $5.5 billion.
Compliance and Security Record
The rise hasn't been smooth. Lithuania fined Revolut for failing to prevent money laundering. Revolut said an investigation had found no confirmed instances of money laundering, that it had signed a settlement with the central bank, and that it had taken steps to address shortcomings.
In September, hackers posing as government investigators received customer data in an accidental disclosure by Revolut. The company said its systems and customer funds were unaffected, and that it had contacted the “limited number of impacted individuals” to offer support.
Ombudsman data compiled by consumer advocacy firm Which? found Revolut was Britain's most-complained-about bank in 2024 and 2025 for fraud cases in which customers are tricked into sending money to scammers. Revolut has previously said it takes fraud very seriously and has strong customer protections in place.
Why This Matters: Europe's most valuable startup is priced above two major Western European banks, yet earns far less than Barclays and lends far less than HSBC or Societe Generale. For policymakers concerned about European competitiveness, the case shows that technology and customer growth can create scale in finance without a large balance sheet. But the test of this business model isn't over. The 6% loan-to-deposit ratio, Lithuania's money-laundering fine and the fraud-complaint data all bear on how much depositors trust a new institution and how national supervisors will treat a bank operating across so many borders. Incumbents such as Caixa Geral de Depósitos now measure themselves against a firm that didn't exist a generation ago. The question, from a competitiveness perspective, is whether European banks and regulators can match that pace while keeping financial-crime and customer-protection standards firm.