Revolut

Revolut is a financial app offering current account style banking features, multi-currency holding and exchange, debit cards, budgeting tools, and access to stock, crypto and commodity trading, all from one app. It began in the UK in 2015 and expanded across Europe and into other markets including the US, Australia and Japan, building a broad feature set that goes well beyond a typical neobank current account. Regulatory status is the fact that actually decides how safe a Revolut balance is, and it differs by country. In the European Economic Area, Revolut operates through Revolut Bank UAB, a licensed bank authorised in Lithuania, meaning EEA customer deposits are generally covered by the Lithuanian deposit guarantee scheme up to 100,000 euro. In the UK, Revolut operated for years solely under an e-money institution licence, under which customer funds are legally safeguarded but not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme in the way a bank deposit is; Revolut was granted a UK banking licence with restrictions in 2024 and has been working through a mobilisation period toward full UK banking status, a distinction customers should check as current at any given time rather than assume is settled. Buyers are people wanting multi-currency spending, international transfers and investing bundled into one app, and the trade-off is that the feature breadth comes from a complex, multi-entity regulatory structure that differs by where the customer is based, so the protection on a Revolut balance is not the same everywhere the app is used.

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  Revolutvs

  

  Monzo

  Monzo: If you want a UK-licensed bank with full FSCS protection rather than an e-money account

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  Revolutvs

  

  Starling Bank

  Starling Bank: If you want a UK-licensed bank focused on core banking rather than trading and multi-currency features

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  Revolutvs

  

  Wise

  Wise: If your priority is low-cost international transfers rather than a full spending and investing app