In a first for the banking behemoth, Revolut has reported their first ever full year of profits. The news comes after a tumultuous 2020, in which Revolut had to pivot their business model to gain a foothold in the rapidly changing global landscape of banking.
Revolut, the London-based digital banking start-up, launched in 2015 with a mission to make banking cheaper, easier and quicker for customers across the world. This led to rapid growth for Revolut, which overtook its traditional banking rivals to offer customers features like zero-commission stock trading, free money transfers and facilitating payments in more than 30 international currencies.
The global pandemic saw a sudden shift in the public’s perception of traditional banking, with more and more people turning to digital services for security and convenience reasons. This proved lucrative for Revolut, who rose to the challenge of new market conditions and reported its first full year of profit in 2021.
For the 2020 financial year, Revolut recorded a pre-tax profit of £10.9 million, a £24 million improvement on the previous year. According to the company’s filings, their gross revenues also rose to around £198 million, a year-on-year leap of 44 percent.
Speaking of the news, Revolut’s head of financial services Nikolay Storonsky remarked, “It is satisfying to be able to come through 2020 and report our first full year of profits.” He added, “Over the last 12 months, we have seen extraordinary growth in our customer base, with more people joining Revolut than ever before. Our success reflects the strength of our product suite and the trust placed in us by our customers.”
Despite their recent success, Revolut faces an ever-shifting landscape of banking and financial technology. Mounting competition, increasing regulations, and added pressure from traditional banks have all been challenges for Revolut in recent years. However, the recent news of their profits shows that Revolut still has a lot of potential despite the competition.
All-in-all, Revolut’s success in their first full year of profit has been a huge milestone for the company, and it will be interesting to watch how they use the forthcoming years to further their competitive advantage in the digital banking arena.
