I think it has been timed for todayās #RevRally which will discuss this, amongst other things
Iām interested to know how Revolut are going to approach it, and even as an investor in Freetrade, I think healthy competition will be better for us as users. After all, Freetrade was set up to compete with the ābig boysā who have failed to keep up with the times!
Agreed, thereās nothing better than a contrasting approach to help you highlight the ways that youāre different!
Well Iāve got Ā£9.18 burning a hole waiting to test out the new Freetrade app
Revolut were asked about how they plan to differentiate in the UK vs Freetrade and the US vs Robinhood. They said itās a big market and thereās such an opportunity for improvement compared to traditional brokers and so theyāre less concerned about differentiation. Intimated it was more about getting a product out there.
Everyone providing better experience & pricing will take market share from the incumbents. Itās basically an opportunity for them to growā¦
They wonāt provide ISAās (for some time) and will provide access to a limited number of blue chips/ US stocks initially (guessing this includes funds as well).
It sounds highly unlikely they will launch this yearā¦
Surely the headline should be:
Are you ready to disrupt the stock market? We arenāt.
Why is the FT of all places referring to Revolut as a bank? Have I missed the news of their banking licence being granted?
Good call. They should know better about such important inaccuracies
Presumably because they are in the process of becoming a bankā¦ or because they may meet the criteria of a āchallenger bankā?
Mr Storonsky, who created the company in 2015 after working for Lehman Brothers and Credit Suisse, said he expected Lithuania to grant its banking licence next month.
But he added that it could still be many months before the company secured the necessary authorisations in each EU country to āpassportā from Lithuania across the rest of the bloc.
In the UK ābankā is a sensitive term and Revolut have always been very specific with their wording, currently their homepage says āA Radically Better Accountā and the page title is āYour Digital Banking Alternativeā.
So a bit confusing why FT have referred to them as a Challenger Bank.
Whereās that quote from, out of interest? Same article?
The PRA defines a bank as:
(1) a firm with a Part 4A Permission to carry on the regulated activity of accepting deposits and is a credit institution, but is not a credit union, friendly society or a building society; or
(2) an EEA bank.
I donāt think Revolut meets either criteria yet (although if Lithuania is about to grant them a banking licence it would meet criteria 2). But, like the quote says, it might be a while to āpassportā that licence across the EU. Thankfully, thereās nothing big coming up over the next six months that could potentially disrupt that process!
I know this is the FTās error and not Revolutās, but they do need to be careful they stay on the right side of the Regulator.
Yes, itās this article.
Weāre in the territory of veering off topic now so, although interesting, Iām not going to share my thoughts on this as Iād rather we stick to talking about Revolutās trading proposition in this thread.
Why are they applying for an e money licence in Luxembourg (which will take 6 months) if the Lithuanian banking license is coming next month? Wouldnāt they just passport that license rather than use the lesser one?
Need more details on what theyāll be offering. Will it be with premium or the metal subscription?
But he added that it could still be many months before the company secured the necessary authorisations in each EU country to āpassportā from Lithuania across the rest of the bloc.
More tweetsā¦
I really enjoy using Revolut but they are terrible at managing expectations. Just read the comments in the tweet, itās jokes.
I was at a conference today where their Head of Mobile presented. When quizzed about their stockbroking platform, it sounds like they are still working on their features for basic, premium and metal (for example, the number of free trades increases as you go u the tiers).
Tbh, it sounds like they are some time away from releasing something.
To be fair, I think itās pretty apparent that managing expectations is a struggle for Fintechs in general.
Also, I am cynical that Revolut have their eye on Freetradeās soft launch and so I donāt think that tweet is coincidental to have come so soon after September 18.
where is this from? have you got a link