UK-based fintech Revolut has finally ended its long wait for a UK banking licence from the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA).
The London-headquartered group said it will now enter a 'mobilisation' stage, having been given what the Bank of England's PRA arm calls "authorisation with restrictions", designed for new banks to fully build out their banking operations.
Group chief executive and co-founder Nikolay Storonsky said: "We are incredibly proud to reach this important milestone in the journey of the company and we will ensure we deliver on making Revolut the bank of choice for UK customers."
Francesca Carlesi, the UK CEO ex of Barclays and Deutsche Bank who was hired last year as the UK banking licence seemed to edge nearer, said the licence award was "a significant step forward for Revolut and for our customers".
Bank of England rules
Digital challenger banks such as Monzo, Starling, Atom Bank and Zopa Bank have also gone through the same authorisation process, where in this preliminary stage they can hold only £50,000 of a customer's total deposits.
According to the BoE's guide to the new bank authorisation process, the mobilisation stage enables new banks to secure further investment, recruit staff and invest in IT systems.
"Mobilisation could take as little as a few months but cannot continue indefinitely and should take no longer than 12 months," the BoE says.
Since 2015, Revolut has offered UK customers an e-money app with many of the same services as a bank apart from lending, and with customer deposits having to be held in a third-party licenced bank.
It currently claims to have around nine million UK customers, with roughly 45 million around the world.
Last year the group generated revenues of £1.8 billion, a 95% increase from the previous year, with pre-tax profits of £438 million, swinging from a loss of £25 million the previous year.