- Revolut has been granted a full banking licence in France, making it the company’s second in the European Union after Lithuania.
- The company has invested over 1 billion euros in Western Europe and is adding more than 600 jobs in the region.
- This milestone comes after Revolut received a UK banking licence in March 2026 and set up an Australian branch in July 2026. These steps are part of a wider regulatory expansion.
Revolut has received a banking licence in France after a joint review by the ACPR, France’s financial regulator, and the European Central Bank. The ECB Governing Council officially approved the decision, making Revolut Bank S.A. the company’s second full EU banking entity after Lithuania.
“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. It is the ideal platform to accelerate Revolut’s next phase of growth, bringing us one step closer to our ambition of becoming one of Europe’s largest and most trusted banks,” said Nik Storonsky, Revolut’s founder and chief executive.
Why France and why now
France is Revolut’s biggest market in the region, and getting the licence took time. Last October, Béatrice Cossa-Dumurgier, CEO for Western Europe, told Euronews Revolut was not in a hurry, since it was already serving French customers with its Lithuanian licence. By April, she was cautiously optimistic about getting the licence in 2026, which has now happened.
With the new licence, Revolut can now offer more products in France. Before, it operated as a payment institution under the Lithuanian licence. Now, the French banking licence allows Revolut to offer loans and regulated savings products, such as mortgages and Livret A-style accounts.
Frédéric Oudéa, former CEO of Société Générale and current chair of Revolut Western Europe’s board, commented: “Receiving this licence is a significant milestone in Revolut’s evolution as a banking group. It reflects our long-term commitment to building a bank that meets the highest governance, regulatory and compliance standards, and the constructive engagement we’ve built with the French and European authorities.”
Revolut has backed its growth in France with over 1 billion euros in investment and has hired more than 600 people in the region. The company plans to open a new Western Europe headquarters in Paris in 2027. France will be the first market to move to the new entity, followed by Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. Lithuania will stay as the hub for the rest of the European Economic Area, creating a dual-hub model with both entities overseen by the ECB and their national regulators.
Cossa-Dumurgier’s own comment on the day struck a similar note to Oudéa’s: “This achievement reflects months of close collaboration with the ACPR and the European Central Bank, whose rigorous standards have helped us build the right foundations for long-term growth in the region. We are grateful for the constructive dialogue we’ve had throughout this process.”
She added, “Our focus now turns to execution. We’ll begin by serving customers in France before progressively expanding across Western Europe, while accelerating the localisation of our products and services to better meet the needs of retail and business customers in each market. This is the beginning of a new chapter for Revolut.”
Regulatory conditions and limitations
The approval comes with certain conditions, though Revolut has not shared the details. In July, Bloomberg reported that Revolut’s French hub will probably face restrictions on new products, similar to those on its Lithuanian entity. Sources said that measures the ECB imposed on the Lithuanian unit last year will likely also apply to the French business.
Because of this, mortgages and savings products may roll out slowly. Revolut has mostly made profits from fees and crypto trading, not lending, so how quickly the ECB eases these rules will affect how much the French licence changes its business.
Revolut’s customer base in France has kept growing, even before the new licence. The company reached over seven million French customers in early 2026, up by two and a half million from 2025. It aims for ten million customers and the top spot in French online banking by 2027.
Wider regulatory expansion
France is just one of several markets where Revolut has made progress this year. The company finally got its full UK banking licence in March 2026 after waiting three years, applied for a US national bank charter around the same time, and became the first global fintech to get a full Australian banking licence in July 2026, its first in Asia-Pacific.
Revolut now holds licences on both sides of the Atlantic and says it operates in 40 markets. Cossa-Dumurgier has said that getting regulatory approval in places like France and Germany helps make the case for the US charter, which Storonsky sees as key to Revolut’s next phase.
This growth has boosted the company’s valuation, which jumped to $115 billion in a secondary share sale in June 2026, up from $75 billion less than a year before.
Storonsky is said to be negotiating a new incentive package tied to a $500 billion goal. While a banking licence does not determine the company’s value on its own, it is an important regulatory milestone that investors will consider before Revolut’s planned 2028 IPO.
