The Revolut UK Banking Licence Unlocks Deposits and Credit

Revolut Bank UK Ltd left the Prudential Regulation Authority’s mobilisation phase on 11 March 2026, ending a £50,000 cap on total deposits. Eligible balances can now sit under Financial Services Compensation Scheme cover of £120,000 a person, the same statutory backstop as any other UK bank.

The group already had 13 million UK customers. Existing accounts do not move overnight. The licence still changes what Revolut may do with that money, which is why other app banks now face a larger lender and why licences then arrived in Australia, France and the United States.

The £50,000 Cap That Boxed In Revolut Bank UK

The PRA gave approval to launch Revolut Bank UK Ltd after lifting restrictions on a licence first granted, with limits, in July 2024. Revolut had applied in 2021. Until 11 March 2026 the UK bank could not take more than a token book.

The Bank of England’s New Bank Start-up Unit sets mobilisation as an optional build-out stage. New banks may finish systems, hiring and capital while already authorised, but total deposits capped at £50,000 across the whole firm. That figure is a ceiling for the bank, not a limit per customer. Against 13 million UK users it made the UK entity a legal shell sitting beside the e-money app people actually used.

Revolut launched in Britain in 2015 as a money transfer and exchange business. The Lithuanian bank that already serves the European Economic Area did not give it a UK deposit franchise. Nik Storonsky, co-founder and chief executive, called the UK launch a long-term strategic priority and said the UK is the home market and central to growth.

Launching our UK bank has been a long-term strategic priority for Revolut, and marks a significant moment in our journey. The UK is our home market and central to our growth.

Nik Storonsky, Co-Founder and CEO of Revolut, 11 March 2026 company statement

Francesca Carlesi, UK chief executive, said the licence lays the foundation for a broader suite of products, including credit, beside the services customers already use. Current accounts were to roll out first to a small group of new customers, then widen over following weeks. Existing customers keep the same app and cards and get at least two months’ notice before their account moves, in phased batches. People who signed up from 11 March 2026 could still land on an e-money account at Revolut Ltd while the bank ramped up.

FROM MOBILISATION TO FULL BANK

The PRA’s own mobilisation note says the stage could take a few months and should take no longer than 12 months. Revolut’s restricted period ran from July 2024 to 11 March 2026, past that path. The company has said the extra time reflected its size. The wait also followed questions over accounts, EU regulatory breaches, and workplace culture. Last year Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, tried to secure a meeting with watchdogs and Revolut; Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England, blocked it on independence grounds.

Eligible Deposits Move Onto FSCS Cover

The customer change that actually alters a balance is protection, not a new sort code. Sort code, account number, IBAN and BIC stay the same. Paid plans and fees stay the same. Once an account sits with Revolut Bank UK Ltd, eligible deposits are covered by the FSCS rather than held as safeguarded e-money in segregated accounts.

On 1 December 2025, three months before this licence, deposit protection rose to £120,000 per eligible person, per authorised firm. The old £85,000 limit had stood from 1 January 2017 through 30 November 2025. Revolut’s UK bank therefore opened under the higher figure. The scheme aims to pay within seven days if a bank fails. Joint accounts are covered up to £120,000 for each holder. Temporary high balances from events such as a house sale or an inheritance can be covered up to £1.4 million for six months.

Safeguarding and FSCS are different machines. Under the e-money model, customer funds sat apart from Revolut’s own money at licensed banks. If Revolut failed, those funds were meant to be returned from the pool, which is not the same as a statutory payout from the compensation scheme. FSCS is the payout that high-street current accounts already had. That is the line customers kept asking about in the days after the emails went out, including people still quoting the old £85,000 figure.

Migration is staged, so some existing accounts remain e-money and stay safeguarded until they move. The app is the check: profile, then account details. Revolut Bank UK Ltd means the bank; Revolut Ltd means the move is still coming. New customers are meant to be set up on FSCS-protected bank accounts automatically once onboarding has fully switched, though the 11 March note warned that early sign-ups might still start on Revolut Ltd.

What FSCS Protection Means for a Revolut Balance

Cover is per person, per authorised firm, across the products that sit inside Revolut Bank UK Ltd. It is not a separate pot for every pocket in the app, and it does not follow crypto or stocks.

WHAT THE FSCS DOES AND DOES NOT COVER

• Current accounts: Eligible sterling and other currency sub-accounts at Revolut Bank UK Ltd are in the £120,000 limit.
• Family and group pots: Kids & Teens, Pockets, Group Pockets, joint accounts and Pro accounts with the bank sit in the same per-person total.
• Partner savings: Instant Access Savings stay with third-party banks such as ClearBank and carry a separate £120,000 of FSCS cover at that partner, on top of the Revolut Bank UK Ltd limit.
• Investments and crypto: Stocks, commodities and crypto stay with other Revolut entities and are not FSCS deposits.

Carlesi put the licence in trust terms rather than product terms. As a bank, she said, people can feel the firm is subject to the same scrutiny, controls and compliance as any other bank, so they can feel safe putting money there. The PRA and the Financial Conduct Authority now supervise Revolut Bank UK Ltd together, the same split as Lloyds or Starling. Register number 981170 sits on the Financial Services Register.

Monzo’s Lending Head Start Meets a Larger Rival

Monzo and Starling spent years building UK loan books, overdrafts and, in Monzo’s case, a credit card, while Revolut was legally stuck as an e-money firm in its home market. That gap closed on paper the day mobilisation ended. Revolut already had the distribution those rivals still chase: 13 million UK customers in the same app that holds FX, subscriptions and card spend.

High-street names keep the salary-and-direct-debit core and the switching bonuses. The fight that changes is unsecured credit and the cheap deposits that fund it. A payments app that cannot lend sells interchange and paid plans. A bank that can take FSCS deposits can turn those balances into net interest. Revolut’s 2025 figures already show how much that engine is worth outside the UK ring-fence.

On 24 March 2026 the group posted a profit before tax of £1.7 billion for 2025, up 57 per cent from £1.1 billion, a 38 per cent margin against 35 per cent a year earlier. Revenue rose 46 per cent to £4.5 billion from £3.1 billion. Customer balances, including sums held with partners, rose 66 per cent to £50.2 billion from £30.2 billion. Interest income was £974 million, up 23 per cent from £790 million. That is a fifth straight year of net profit, reported two weeks after the PRA decision.

Retail customers at 31 December 2025 numbered 68.3 million, up 30 per cent from 52.5 million, with 767,000 business customers, up 33 per cent. Eleven product lines each cleared about £100 million of revenue. Subscriptions reached £708 million, up 67 per cent from £423 million. The 2025 secondary share sale that valued the group at $75 billion sat on that mix, with Britain still the market where lending was the missing line.

Licences Land in Australia, France and the US

Storonsky framed the UK bank as a step toward a global bank. The 2025 annual report said Revolut was operating as a licensed bank in 30 of its 40 markets, including the UK and Mexico, and had filed for a US national bank charter in March 2026. The group also restated a £10 billion investment over five years, 10,000 jobs, and a target of 30 new markets by 2030, on top of £3 billion and 1,000 skilled UK jobs already pledged.

Other supervisors then moved in sequence. On 21 July 2026 the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority’s authority for Revolut Payments Australia Pty Ltd commenced, after an instrument dated 15 July 2026. Revolut called it the first unrestricted Australian ADI licence granted to a global fintech, and the first banking entity in Asia-Pacific. Eligible Australian deposits fall under the Financial Claims Scheme up to AU$250,000 per holder. Instant Access Savings and credit cards went live with that launch. The firm pledged nearly AUD$400 million into the local market over five years. By that announcement the group put its worldwide customer base at more than 75 million.

The company’s newsroom dated a French banking licence to 10 August 2026 and, on 3 September 2026, conditional approval from the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to form a national bank. Britain is no longer the only large English-speaking charter on the board. It was the home-market one other files could point to.

THE LICENSING SEQUENCE

1. 2021: Revolut applies for a UK banking licence.
2. July 2024: PRA grants authorisation with restrictions and the £50,000 mobilisation cap.
3. 1 December 2025: FSCS deposit limit rises to £120,000.
4. 11 March 2026: Restrictions lift; Revolut Bank UK Ltd launches.
5. 24 March 2026: 2025 results show £1.7 billion pre-tax profit and £50.2 billion of customer balances.
6. 21 July 2026: Australia ADI licence commences, with savings and credit cards on day one.
7. 10 August 2026: French banking licence.
8. 3 September 2026: Conditional OCC approval to form a US national bank.

REVOLUT’S 2025 GROUP NUMBERS

• Pre-tax profit: £1.7 billion, up 57 per cent, fifth year of net profit.
• Revenue: £4.5 billion, up 46 per cent, with 11 lines above £100 million.
• Balances: £50.2 billion, up 66 per cent, including partner holdings.
• Retail customers: 68.3 million at year end, before the March UK launch.

Australia’s day-one credit cards sit beside a slower UK product clock. The legal right to lend in Britain arrived in March. The loan book did not.

Francesca Carlesi Wants Revolut as the Primary Bank

Carlesi sat for a company interview the week the licence came through. She said the goal is to become the primary banking partner, so that nobody should need anything else, and that the old e-money structure had made that structurally out of reach.

Ideally, we would like customers to think of Revolut as a primary bank, not just as a transactional card. This is the core pillar and core goal of our strategy here in the UK.

Francesca Carlesi, UK CEO at Revolut, company interview the week of 11 March 2026

The 11 May 2026 explainer, two months after the PRA decision, still listed personal loans and credit cards as on the way, aimed at customers who had to borrow elsewhere. It also flagged cash ISAs, fixed-term deposits, and a more tailored private-banking track. Direct Debits, standing orders, salary inbound, and card spend already work on the bank account. Cash deposits do not, and that gap remains a reason some users keep a high-street or Starling account beside the app.

Becoming the salary account is the commercial test. FSCS cover removes the old objection that the balance was only safeguarded. Credit is how Revolut earns net interest on those inflows in Britain, as it already does in markets where it holds a bank book. Until those products are live, 13 million UK customers are a deposit franchise in waiting, and Monzo’s loan book still has time.

Frequently Asked Questions

When Did Revolut Get Its Full UK Banking Licence?

The PRA lifted mobilisation restrictions on 11 March 2026 for Revolut Bank UK Ltd, company number 12871051, registered at 30 South Colonnade, London E14 5HX, Financial Services Register number 981170. The restricted licence had been in place since July 2024 after an application in 2021.

What Is the FSCS Limit on Revolut Bank UK Deposits?

Eligible deposits at Revolut Bank UK Ltd are covered up to £120,000 per person, the scheme-wide limit that took effect on 1 December 2025. Qualifying temporary high balances, such as proceeds from selling a home, can be covered up to £1.4 million for six months from the date the sum was first deposited.

How Do I Check if My Account Has Moved?

Open the Revolut app, tap the profile icon, then Account details, and read the entity name. Revolut Bank UK Ltd means the account is already with the bank and eligible deposits sit under FSCS; Revolut Ltd means it is still an e-money account awaiting a move, with at least two months’ notice before each batch.

Are Revolut Savings Covered by the Same FSCS Limit?

Instant Access Savings are placed with partner banks such as ClearBank, so they carry up to £120,000 of FSCS cover at that partner, separate from the £120,000 that applies to eligible deposits inside Revolut Bank UK Ltd. Crypto, stocks and commodities stay outside both of those deposit limits.

What Was the PRA’s 12-Month Mobilisation Rule?

Mobilisation is optional and designed so a new bank can finish build-out while already authorised, with total deposits limited to £50,000. The PRA says it should take no longer than 12 months, and a Variation of Permission to exit must be filed at least three months before that period ends; if the work is not done, the PRA may remove authorisation.

Australia turned a new ADI into savings and credit cards on 21 July 2026. Britain’s 13 million customers got the legal switch on 11 March 2026, FSCS cover as each batch moves, and a product list that in May still put personal loans and credit cards in the future tense. The US file is now a conditional OCC charter. The UK loan book is the item that turns a licence into interest income at home.

Disclaimer: This article is news reporting and analysis of Revolut Bank UK Ltd’s PRA authorisation and related product and licensing facts. It is informational only and does not constitute investment, banking, credit, or financial advice, and it is not a recommendation to open, switch, or close an account or to take a loan or card. Readers should check their own account entity in the Revolut app and consult a qualified independent financial adviser or the FSCS if they need advice on deposit protection or borrowing. Figures, licence statuses, and product lists reflect the company, PRA, FSCS, and APRA materials cited and may change as accounts migrate and new products are authorised.