EU passporting woes: Revolut shifting payments responsibility to Ireland and Lithuania

The banking challenger’s headquarters will remain in London.

Revolut is planning to shift regulatory responsibility for its European payments network to Ireland and Lithuania, its Banking CEO Richard Davies has announced.

The move comes ahead of the potential loss of passporting rights as the UK races to agree a trade deal with Europe before the end of the year.

In an exclusive interview with The Telegraph, Davies revealed: “Strategically for Europe we are moving to a three-target licensed entity model.”

“We have already got the UK EMI license, and that will continue to serve the UK clients. The strategy is to have our central and eastern European clients on our Lithuanian EMI and bank license. For our western European clients we are in the process with the Central Bank of Ireland around authorising there to have western European clients on our Irish license.”

The model is similar to what many UK fintechs have shifted towards since 2016, establishing satellite offices in other EU states to protect against any eventuality.

While Revolut has its UK and Lithuanian licences in place, the startup will need to secure Irish approval before its model of having three regulated entities is complete.

The banking boss made it clear in The Telegraph interview that Revolut’s headquarters and management of its European payments will remain in London for the foreseeable future.

Revolut hired Davies from TSB to be its Chief Operating Officer, but now appears to have shifted his role to Banking CEO with a tighter focus.

Revolut is also hiring management teams for each of its three regulatory regions, with Joe Heneghan recently appointed Irish CEO and its Irish office looking to hire a Chief Operations Officer for Europe.