# Revolut learned that a banking license unlocks scale

Markdown copy of https://realalpha.app/s/revolut-learned-that-a-banking-license-unlocks-scale/ on Real Alpha, the best minutes from long interviews with the people building AI. Cite and link the page, not this copy.

- Speaker: [Nik Storonsky](https://realalpha.app/people/nik-storonsky/) · Nik Storonsky is cofounder and CEO of Revolut. · Co-founded Revolut, the digital bank valued at $115 billion, and founded the QuantumLight venture fund.
- Host: [David Senra](https://realalpha.app/people/david-senra/) · Host, Founders · Has read an entrepreneur's biography every week for Founders since 2016.
- Show: Founders
- Episode: [Competition, Intensity & Building a $115 Billion Global Bank | Nik Storonsky, Revolut](https://realalpha.app/v/hT_MAAwFLIc/), Oct 25, 2026
- Moment: 8:45 to 12:57 of the episode (4 min), playing on https://realalpha.app/s/revolut-learned-that-a-banking-license-unlocks-scale/; the episode from there: https://realalpha.app/v/hT_MAAwFLIc/?t=525

## Quote

> “To build a large business, it's a must, right? Because if you want to really compete with banks, you need to **get trust from customers**.”
> — [Nik Storonsky](https://realalpha.app/people/nik-storonsky/) at [10:38](https://realalpha.app/v/hT_MAAwFLIc/?t=638) · Founders

## Takeaways

1. A license was easier to obtain before Revolut had millions of customers.
2. It took nearly five years to get a UK banking license.
3. Without a license, fintechs struggle to become a primary bank.

## About this segment

Nik Storonsky explains how delaying a banking license made approval harder once Revolut had millions of customers. He argues a license is essential for earning trust and reaching mainstream customers.

From “Competition, Intensity & Building a $115 Billion Global Bank | Nik Storonsky, Revolut”, Oct 25, 2026. [Watch the full episode](https://realalpha.app/v/hT_MAAwFLIc/)

## Transcript

Transcribed by machine (Whisper) from the episode’s audio, so a word may be off here and there.

[8:51](https://realalpha.app/v/hT_MAAwFLIc/?t=531) you set out to like not be regulated. And there was something about you saying this is like the worst mistake you ever made. Can you talk about what happened and how you learned this lesson? Yeah, basically, when we got several million customers and then we applied for a banking license, the entity with zero customers is less risky compared to an entity with millions of customers. And then in the regulator eyes, they become much more risk-averse to you, right?

[9:18](https://realalpha.app/v/hT_MAAwFLIc/?t=558) Because for them, it's much easier to give a license to a company with zero customers because maybe they will have zero customers in three, four, five years' time, right? If you give a banking license to a company with five, 10 million customers and something goes wrong, right, then my regulator will be to be blamed. Why were you not regulated before? What was the state of the business when you applied for the banking license?

[9:40](https://realalpha.app/v/hT_MAAwFLIc/?t=580) What were you doing before? Well, we simply got e-money license, payment licenses. So we went for much lighter licenses, yes. Okay. Yeah. And then the idea was a banking license back then was three, four years to get. while e-money lies you can get within one year. So obviously, as a founder, you want to do things faster. So that's why we... We went for e-money license, then we got a lot of customers, and then we moved to banking license, and then it became almost impossible because we were very, very large.

[10:08](https://realalpha.app/v/hT_MAAwFLIc/?t=608) I think in the history of the UK, it never happened before that a company with 7 or 8 million customers in the UK applied for banking license. So was that a difficult process? Like, what happened? It took us almost five years to get a banking license in the UK, yeah. Okay, so what would you do differently before? You would have tried it, like, what you, I think the way you put it is, like, regulation, it's not a moat, that's not the right word to, but it's like, there's a huge benefit to actually getting yourself regulated.

[10:38](https://realalpha.app/v/hT_MAAwFLIc/?t=638) Is this correct? Is this the way you thought about it? It's like, there are pros and cons. To build a large business, it's a must, right? Because if you want to really compete with banks, you need to get trust from customers. They need to put salaries in. They need to put a lot of their wealth in their accounts. They need to start trading stocks with your ETFs and so on. So they need to trust you.

[11:02](https://realalpha.app/v/hT_MAAwFLIc/?t=662) And then in their minds, I mean, they trust banks. What do you think the American fintech companies are doing wrong about this? To build a very large business, to capture large market share, it's just unavoidable. So I think in the U.S., a lot of companies started like Chime, CashShop. It was simple before, 10, 12 years ago. So they all never went for a banking license. I think it's a big mistake.

[11:26](https://realalpha.app/v/hT_MAAwFLIc/?t=686) So they could never become a large business. Explain why they can't become a large business without it, though. Just because they are not a bank, right? They can target certain niche audience, certain cohorts of customers, I don't know, low income and so on. But they can never go to prime audience, right? And they can never become a prime bank account without a banking license. But why do you think that relegates them to being a small company?

[11:50](https://realalpha.app/v/hT_MAAwFLIc/?t=710) Well, just because, yes, early adopters, 1-2% of the population will try them. Maybe it will go from early adopters to their friends' family, another like 90%. So 4% of the population when you want 40, 50, 60, 70%. For example, in Ireland, we have 80% micropenetration. In Ireland? Yes, 4 out of 5 adults use Revolut accounts. Okay, how did that happen? Slowly, I think a combination of lack of competition, very bad banks.

[12:16](https://realalpha.app/v/hT_MAAwFLIc/?t=736) They have only four banks, which are bad, plus a very small country with a lot of people living outside of Ireland as well. So I think altogether, it led to us being 80% of the market. market. If you look at other markets, for example, in the UK, we're about 20% penetration. France is 20% Spain. Certain markets are 30, 40% penetration. So it is possible to go to 60, 70, 80 as Ireland shows, but for it, you need to be a banker. So I'm very curious, like when you're going into a new market and you said there's just bad banks, just like low competition here,