1 in 4 Irish adults have a Revolut card

Digital banking service Revolut has signed up 1m Irish customers—accounting for roughly 25 per cent of the adult population on the Emerald Isle.

According to Ireland’s Central Statistics Office, its population was 4.9m in April 2019 meaning 1 in 4 Irish adults are Revolut customers.

In February 2020 Revolut announced that it would be shifting regulatory responsibility for its European payments network to Ireland and Lithuania ahead of the potential loss of passporting rights because of Brexit. 

As well as the customer milestone, the fintech has also launched Revolut Junior for its Premium and Metal customers in Ireland, nearly two months after it first brought the service to the UK.

Revolut Junior is aimed at teaching 7-17 year olds how to manage their own money. 

A Junior account can only be opened by a parent or guardian who is an existing Revolut account holder who can then monitor funds in the new account, including receiving a notification every time their child spends.

“Conversations about money typically start at home and we believe these skills are gained little by little, through experience and with help of parents and guardians,” said Aurelien Guichard, product owner for Revolut Junior.

“Revolut Junior ‘grows’ with kids until they are eligible for a standard 18+ account so that once they are independent, they have the financial skills and literacy to avoid potentially costly mistakes,” he added.

Despite the huge growth in Ireland, Revolut has not been immune to the coronavirus-related strain.

The e-money service has lost eight executives since the start of the lockdown, among other staff departures. 

In mid-April, it was also revealed that Revolut co-founders Vlad Yatsenko and Nikolay Storonsky would sacrifice their salaries entirely and top executives would receive pay cuts to ensure their staff still received their salaries. 

Revolut is yet to furlough any staff, although it has had to undertake other cost-saving techniques such as offering employees a salary swap scheme whereby they can ‘swap’ £1 of salary for £2 worth of shares.

The banking service also finally launched as a bank in Lithuania, after receiving its European Banking licence from the Bank of Lithuania in late 2018.