Revolut Wins French Banking Licence for 30M EU Customers

Revolut Bank S.A. has obtained a full French banking licence after an assessment by the French prudential regulator and the European Central Bank, with the ECB Governing Council approving the decision. The licence gives Revolut a second banking entity in the European Union, complementing its existing Revolut Bank UAB in Lithuania, and sets the stage for a gradual expansion across Western Europe.

The French entity will initially serve customers in France before being rolled out to Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain in later phases. Revolut has not disclosed a migration timetable, and its Lithuanian bank will remain responsible for the rest of the European Economic Area. The company says the new structure brings a bank closer to the roughly 30 million customers it serves in Western Europe, about eight million of whom joined in the past year. Revolut Business also counts hundreds of thousands of European companies as clients, adding corporate deposits, payments and treasury services to the regulatory workload.

The move follows Revolut's 2025 announcement naming Paris as its Western European base, backed by more than €1 billion in regional investment, plans to hire over 600 staff, and a Paris headquarters scheduled to open in 2027. The new bank is chaired by former Société Générale chief executive Frédéric Oudéa, while Béatrice Cossa-Dumurgier leads the Western European business. Cossa-Dumurgier said the focus now shifts to execution, starting with French customers and progressively expanding while localising products for retail and business clients.

Customer impact and supervision

Customers will need to check which legal entity holds their account as the migration proceeds. French customers currently served by Revolut Bank UAB will stay under the Lithuanian structure until Revolut transfers them and updates account terms. Once accounts sit with the French bank, the contracting entity, supervisor and deposit protection arrangements will change. French-headquartered banks must participate in the French deposit guarantee scheme, which covers eligible deposits up to €100,000 per customer and institution; the Lithuanian scheme provides a similar level of cover. Revolut has not yet published terms confirming when the French protection takes over.

The French institution will give Revolut a local balance sheet to build savings and lending products, but the approval does not automatically introduce mortgages, overdrafts or new credit offerings. Regulatory scrutiny also remains a factor: Italy's competition authority imposed €11.5 million in penalties on Revolut in April over investment disclosures, additional costs and account-management practices. Revolut disputed the findings and said it would appeal.

Revolut's 2025 annual report recorded about $6 billion in revenue and $2.3 billion in pre-tax profit, with eleven product categories each generating more than £100 million. A July secondary share sale reportedly valued the company at roughly $115 billion. The French licence is part of a wider push that includes a UK bank launched in March 2026 and an application for a US national bank charter. The long-term test will be whether the French entity turns regulatory approval into deeper customer relationships, with deposits, salary-account adoption and lending volumes showing whether users make Revolut their primary bank.