Challenger bank eyes Capital base to cash in on fintech savvy population

Financial services start-up Revolut views Scottish market as ripe for disruption, writes Chris Mccall

ALondon-based fintech company is looking to establish a base in Edinburgh as part of its expansion plans.

Revolut, which describes itself as a “digital challenger bank” will join the city’s growing hub for financial services technology.

Those who open an account with Revolut can buy and hold such cryptocurrencies as Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum and Ripple, with a 1.5 per cent fee for transactions.

The start-up said it was currently processing more than 100,000 such transactions each day.

It also offers more traditional dayto-day banking services as well as a savings account known as Vaults.

Revolut will initially seek to hire a local marketing team to help increase customer acquisition and brand awareness across Scotland, but will later look at the possibility of building a local engineering and compliance function in the capital.

While many of the larger fintech companies are looking to the likes of Berlin, Paris and Lisbon as ideal fintech destinations, Revolut are keen to promote Scotland as the future fintech hub of Europe.

Chad West, chief marketing officer at Revolut, said: “Scotland is home to a highly-educated population, excellent infrastructure and a forward-thinking regulator, combined with an incredibly tech savvy population who are always open to trying and testing emerging technologies. It’s the perfect environment for us.”

He added: “Equally, Scotland is far from immune to the big banks and their high fees and sluggish tech. Revolut has literally transformed the financial lives of people in London, Berlin and Paris, and I’m convinced that we can cause some serious disruption in Scotland too, and put local folk back in control of their finances.”

Revolut lets users open an appbased current account in 60 seconds, sends you instant payment notifications, shows exactly what you spend each month and even lets you set monthly budgets on categories like restaurants and groceries.

It has also launched a feature to help customers save by rounding up card payments to the nearest whole number and stashing away their spare change in a separate savings wallet.

0 The firm is eyeing a capital base