Revolut French Licence Builds Dual-Hub Bank Across Europe

Revolut received a full French banking licence on 10 August 2026 after a joint assessment by France’s ACPR and the European Central Bank, with the ECB Governing Council formally adopting the decision. The approval creates Revolut Bank S.A. as a locally regulated entity and sets Paris as the base for Western European operations.

The licence sits alongside the existing Lithuanian bank and starts a phased customer migration that turns passporting into dual-hub scale.

What the French Entity Now Allows

Revolut Bank S.A. can hold deposits directly and develop products tailored to French rules, including regulated savings and expanded lending. Until now the group largely passporting its Lithuanian licence across the EU limited how deeply it could localise offers such as French-style savings accounts or mortgages.

Direct deposit holding under ACPR oversight is the practical shift. It lets the group design savings and credit terms that match French product conventions rather than stretching a single passport template across markets with different tax wrappers and consumer-credit rules.

CEO Nik Storonsky said the licence “gives us the foundation to build the next generation of banking for more than 30 million customers across Western Europe.” Western Europe already accounts for about 30 million of Revolut’s more than 75 million global customers, with nearly 8 million joining in 2025 alone.

The company has declined to detail any product-specific conditions attached to the licence. A spokesperson told Reuters only that “the licence enables us to operate as a bank across the EU” and would not comment further on regulatory arrangements.

This licence gives us the foundation to build the next generation of banking for more than 30 million customers across Western Europe. France has become a leading financial hub, supported by a dynamic financial ecosystem and a robust regulatory framework.

Nik Storonsky, Founder and CEO of Revolut, made the comments in the company’s official announcement of the full banking licence for Revolut Bank S.A..

Two Supervised Banks, One European Footprint

Revolut now runs a dual-hub model. Revolut Bank S.A. in France will progressively take customers in Western Europe. Revolut Bank UAB in Lithuania continues as the cornerstone for the rest of the EEA. Both entities sit under local competent authorities and the ECB.

The structure is built for scale. Local regulation in France brings proximity to customers, talent and product rules. The Lithuanian licence, upgraded to a full banking licence by the ECB in 2021 after an earlier specialised status, keeps the broader passport network intact.

Splitting the footprint this way keeps day-to-day supervision close to the densest customer pools while the older entity continues to serve markets outside the migration path. Both banks remain inside the same ECB framework, so group-level capital and risk standards still apply across the pair.

Frédéric Oudéa, former Société Générale chief executive and now chairman of the Revolut Western Europe board, called the approval “a significant milestone in Revolut’s evolution as a banking group” that reflects long-term commitment to high governance and compliance standards.

The Billion-Euro Paris Commitment

Over the last year Revolut committed more than €1 billion to the region and signed a 10-year lease for its Paris headquarters, set to open in 2027. The earlier public pledge was framed as a $1.1 billion French expansion that would also support the licence application.

Hiring plans call for more than 600 people across Western Europe, including 400 in France. Leadership already includes Oudéa as chair and Béatrice Cossa-Dumurgier as CEO Western Europe.

• €1B+ regional investment commitment over the recent period
• 600+ planned hires across Western Europe
• 400 of those roles based in France
• 2027 target for the new Paris Western Europe HQ

The capital and headcount figures were set out before the licence decision, so the approval now converts a multi-year build plan into an operating bank rather than a pure application narrative. Paris becomes both the regulatory home and the operational centre for the six-market migration path.

The more than €1 billion investment pledge was first detailed when Revolut announced Paris as the hub and the licence application path in 2025.

How Customer Migration Works

Transfers begin with French users, moving accounts from the Revolut Bank UAB French branch to the new French bank. Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain follow in later phases. No fixed country-by-country dates have been published.

For retail customers the practical changes are limited. Account details including IBAN stay the same. Cards and payments continue without interruption. Full transaction history remains available in the app.

• France customers move first
• Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain come next
• Customers receive two months notice before migration
• Anyone who prefers not to move can close the account free of charge before the switch
• Updated terms apply automatically unless the customer opts out

The notice window and free-exit option are designed to keep the legal-entity change from becoming a forced switch. Customers who stay move under the French bank’s terms; those who leave can do so without a fee before the transfer date.

Béatrice Cossa-Dumurgier said the immediate focus turns to execution: serve France first, then expand while accelerating localisation for retail and business customers in each market.

Direct Pressure on French Digital Rivals

In France Revolut competes with the digital arms of large domestic banks, most visibly Société Générale’s BoursoBank. BoursoBank reported roughly 8.8 million to 8.9 million clients around the end of 2025 and early 2026 and continues to grow toward longer-term targets of 20-25 million.

Revolut’s Western European base of about 30 million already exceeds that scale. The French licence lets it hold deposits under local rules and push regulated savings and credit products that passporting made harder to tailor. Crowd reaction on X treated the news as the moment Revolut stops being mainly a secondary multi-currency app and starts competing for primary banking relationships in its densest markets.

The company still runs without physical branches. Its model relies on the app, local regulatory credibility and continuous product additions that now include deeper lending beyond the fee and crypto income that drove earlier profits.

Licences Stacking Across Markets

The French approval follows a full UK banking licence granted in March 2026 after years of restricted status. Revolut also holds an unrestricted deposit-taking licence in Australia and has a pending US bank charter application. Storonsky has previously linked stronger European banking credentials to progress on the US side.

1. December 2021, Revolut Bank UAB receives full Lithuanian banking licence from 2021 via the ECB
2. 2024-March 2026, UK path moves from restricted to full banking licence
3. May 2025, Paris HQ and French licence application announced with large investment
4. July 2026, Australia unrestricted ADI licence
5. 10 August 2026, Full French banking licence adopted by ECB Governing Council

Each step adds a supervised deposit-taking base in a major market rather than extending a single passport further. The French decision is the first full banking licence inside the euro-area core after the Lithuanian upgrade, and it lands months after the UK full licence and the Australian unrestricted ADI grant.

A secondary share sale earlier in 2026 priced the company at about $115 billion, a figure higher than the market capitalisations of several established European banks including Société Générale and Barclays at the time of the reports. That secondary share sale at 115 billion reflected the same licence momentum now extended by the French approval.

How Dual Supervision Shapes Product Speed

Running two full banks under the ECB means product launches in the migrated markets can follow French rulebooks while non-migrated EEA markets keep using the Lithuanian entity. That split reduces the need to force every local feature through a single passport interpretation.

Regulated savings and expanded lending are the clearest near-term examples. Under pure passporting, French-style savings structures and mortgage-style credit were harder to match to local conventions. With Revolut Bank S.A. holding deposits directly, those products can be built to ACPR expectations and then rolled along the Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain path as each phase completes.

Leadership coverage already mirrors the geography. Oudéa chairs the Western Europe board and Cossa-Dumurgier leads the region as CEO, so governance for the French hub is not an afterthought bolted onto the Lithuanian bank. The 400 France-based roles inside the wider 600-plus hiring plan are meant to staff that local product and compliance load.

What the Valuation Signals About Scale

The secondary sale at about $115 billion placed Revolut above the then market capitalisations of Société Générale and Barclays. That pricing arrived while the group was still converting restricted or passport-based statuses into full local licences, so the French approval extends the same story rather than starting a new one.

Investors were already underwriting a multi-hub banking group with more than 75 million global customers and roughly 30 million in Western Europe. The licence does not invent that scale; it gives the densest European slice a home regulator and a path to primary-account products that passporting alone could not fully support.

Whether the valuation holds will depend on execution inside the six named markets, not on further headline licence counts alone. Deposit balances, savings take-up and lending quality under the French entity are the metrics that will test the $115 billion mark against the incumbent banks it now faces on equal regulatory footing.

Execution Now Determines the Payoff

The dual-hub structure is in place. Customer migration mechanics are published. Capital and hiring commitments are public. The next test is how quickly Revolut turns the French licence into localised savings, lending and primary-account stickiness across the six named markets while the Lithuanian entity keeps the wider EEA running.

Oudéa framed the moment as foundations for trust with customers, regulators and partners. Cossa-Dumurgier called it the start of a new chapter. For a company already serving tens of millions in the region without branches, the licence converts regulatory proximity into the ability to compete on the same product ground as the incumbents it has been circling for years.

France first, then the five follow-on markets, remains the sequence. Speed of localisation, not the licence ceremony itself, will decide whether the dual-hub model delivers the primary relationships the crowd on X already expects.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Revolut’s dual-hub banking model in Europe?

Revolut Bank S.A. in France handles Western European customers under ACPR and ECB supervision while Revolut Bank UAB in Lithuania remains the supervised entity for the rest of the EEA; both report into the ECB framework and together replace pure passporting for the densest markets.

Will my Revolut IBAN or card change after the French migration?

No. Official help guidance states that account details including the IBAN, card information, payments and full transaction history stay exactly the same; the only structural change is the legal entity providing the service.

Which products does the French banking licence unlock?

It enables direct deposit holding and localisation of regulated savings and lending products under French rules, including pathways toward offerings such as Livret A-style accounts and broader credit that were constrained under simple passporting from Lithuania.

How does the French licence differ from Revolut’s Lithuanian one?

The Lithuanian licence supports EU-wide passporting and remains the base for non-migrated EEA markets; the French licence adds a second full banking entity with local ACPR oversight, Paris headquarters status and the ability to tailor products and governance more closely to Western European customer bases.

Can customers refuse the move to the French bank?

Yes. Revolut will give two months’ notice plus updated terms; customers who do not want the new entity can close their account free of charge before the migration date and are not required to accept the change.