Revolut makes virtual cards free for Irish customers amid Covid-19 ecommerce boom

Cashing in on the online shopping boom, Revolut has rolled out virtual cards for its 1.2m Irish customers. 

Previously, the feature was only available to Revolut’s paying customers but as of yesterday, the feature has been introduced for all users in Ireland. 

Ireland has quickly become a Revolut stronghold, with the fintech counting one in four Irish adults as customers as of May 2020.

Michael Russel, communications manager for Revolut Ireland, told The Times: “The disposable card feature, which was previously reserved for Premium and Metal customers, is now free to all users going forward in recognition of changing spending habits and the need to protect consumers when they purchase online.”

According to the fintech, its Irish customers created nearly 200,000 virtual cards during November and December 2020.

Despite this, fresh data from Revolut show that consumer spending in Ireland dropped by 14 per cent in January 2021, compared to the same period last year.

Thanks to the country-wide lockdown, spending in hotels and restaurants fell by 86 and 77 per cent respectively, while sportswear sales jumped by 27 per cent year-on-year.

Spending in cinemas nosedived by 99 per cent as establishments shut up shop and spending in bars was 94 per cent lower in January 2021 than it was in 2020.

Just last week, Revolut became the first major UK fintech to announce that it would be switching to flexible working permanently as the pandemic continues to keep offices shut across the globe. 

Nearly a month ago, the digital banking service also finally submitted its application for a full UK banking licence, this time last year it was revealed that Revolut would be shifting its EU passporting responsibilities to Ireland and Lithuania in light of Brexit.