How Revolut is building an international "super app of finance"

• Key insight: Revolut is using its U.S. expansion to further its global banking goals, U.S. CEO Cetin Duransoy said at American Banker's Digital Banking Conference.
• Supporting data: Two in 10 adults in Europe and and eight out of 10 adults in Ireland have a Revolut account already, according to Duransoy.
• Forward look: Revolut is projecting an official U.S. bank launch by early 2027.

Revolut is ready to take on the world — or at least the world of global finance, according to U.S. CEO Cetin Duransoy.

"If you look at all the fintechs around us, they specialize in one area and typically in one country," Duransoy said in a keynote address at American Banker's Digital Banking conference in Orlando, Florida on Tuesday. "We do everything everywhere. In fact, our ambition is to be the first truly global bank in the world."

The company is using its U.S. expansion to further its long-term goal of building a "super app of finance." Building an everything app of any kind has been historically difficult in the U.S. due to a highly fragmented market, but focusing specifically on finance is Revolut's approach of choice to the challenge.

"In anything related to money, we want our customers to use the Revolut app to get there," he said.

Duransoy said that Revolut is anticipating its U.S. charter application to be approved in time to become a bank in the first half of 2027. The company is also in the process of establishing itself as a licensed bank in the U.K. now that its application there has been approved as of this March.

He told American Banker in an interview that payments is also a major part of Revolut's platform, particularly with peer-to-peer (P2P) money transfers.

"There is not a great solution in the United States right now for people who deal with multiple currencies," he said. "We're going to start from there. Our next three years are going to be really starting with this population and make sure we use it as a hook, because one of the key things we need to do is make the Revolut a well-known name."

Duransoy cited company-reported figures to state that two in 10 adults in Europe have a Revolut account, and eight out of 10 adults in Ireland are Revolut users.

"People in Ireland say 'Revolut me money,'" he told American Banker. "People don't say Zelle me or Venmo me money. It's a different world. One of the key things for us is spreading the word of Revolut and making sure we acquire the customers with a great hook. Then they open the app and they see all the other offerings we have."

Mizuho senior analyst Dan Dolev said that Revolut's U.S. entry could potentially compete with neobanks and digital wallets like SoFi, Chime, Cash App and Venmo, as well as with global operators like Nubank, PayPay and PicPay. 

"Revolut literally competes with everybody with all the products that we have built," Duransoy said at the conference. "Everything that we do we think about globally first, but we act locally. This global versus regional tension is an incredibly valuable one, because if you try to do everything fully globally then you're going to lose touch with the customer's needs in the region," he said. Conversely, focusing only on local demand means "you're never going to reach profitability."

The path Revolut is treading is not without its casualties. European digital banks N26 and Monzo both entered the U.S. market in the past and have since withdrawn to focus on their home markets.

Dolev said that U.S. customers have "always had a complicated love affair with our banks" and compared Revolut to a suitor as it attempts to lure customers from U.S.-based financial institutions. 

"Somewhere between a flat white in London and a late-night currency swap in São Paulo, Revolut has emerged as a significant neo-bank," he wrote in a recent Mizuho report. "Fast-forward to 2026, and that summer fling just showed up at your door with a $75 billion private market valuation, a U.S. bank charter application filed with the OCC and 70 million customers across 40 countries. In other words, it's not just calling you back: it's asking you to move in."

Overall, the U.S. is the next, but certainly not the last, international expansion that Revolut is aiming for in its global banking strategy.

"Imagine a world where you're launching at least a bank or two every quarter around the world," Duransoy said. "I've always been a big believer that the best companies are not created because they have the best ideas. The best companies are created because they have the best execution."