The Prudential Regulation Authority lifted the restrictions on Revolut's UK banking license on March 11, 2026, ending a five-year regulatory journey that began with the company's 2021 application. The fintech giant, valued at $75 billion after a November funding round backed by Coatue, Nvidia, and Fidelity, can now operate as a fully regulated bank under a new entity called Revolut Bank UK Ltd.
Thirteen million UK customers will be migrated to the new banking entity in phases over the coming weeks. Their account numbers, sort codes, and IBANs stay the same. What changes is the safety net underneath: eligible deposits now qualify for Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) protection up to 120,000 pounds (approximately $160,000) per person.
Five Years From Application to Approval
Revolut first applied for a UK banking license in 2021. The PRA granted a restricted license in July 2024, kicking off a 20-month mobilisation phase, a probationary period designed for new banks to prove their operational resilience, governance, and risk controls before receiving full authorization.
That timeline was longer than typical. The PRA flagged concerns about Revolut's size, the complexity of its product suite, and questions around its financial reporting. The company had been operating in the UK under an e-money license, which let it hold funds and process payments but did not provide the deposit insurance or lending authority that a full banking charter grants.
CEO Nik Storonsky called the approval "a vital step in our mission to build the world's first truly global bank." UK CEO Francesca Carlesi framed it as laying the foundation for lending products, which would put Revolut in direct competition with HSBC, Lloyds, and Barclays for credit and personal loans.
What 120,000 Pounds of FSCS Protection Actually Means
Before this license, Revolut UK customers' savings were held with partner banks, each carrying independent FSCS coverage. The customer's direct relationship was with Revolut the e-money institution, not with a bank. If Revolut itself had collapsed, the e-money safeguarding regime would have applied instead of FSCS, a system with slower resolution timelines and less certainty.
Now, deposits held directly in Revolut Bank UK are covered by the same insurance that protects accounts at NatWest or Barclays. The 120,000-pound limit, raised from 85,000 pounds in December 2025, covers each eligible person per authorized firm.
For context, the 70 million customers Revolut serves globally will not all benefit from this change. Only the 13 million UK accounts migrating to Revolut Bank UK Ltd get the FSCS umbrella. Customers in other markets remain under their respective local regulatory frameworks.
Crypto Trading Stays in a Separate Entity
Here is the detail that matters most for crypto users: cryptocurrency trading, commodities, and stock services will continue operating through separate Revolut entities, completely outside the new banking structure. Crypto balances are not covered by FSCS.
This is not a surprise. Post-FTX, regulators globally have pushed firms to ring-fence speculative digital asset services from insured deposit-taking. The EU's MiCA framework formalizes this separation. The UK's own crypto regulatory proposals, still working through Parliament, point in the same direction.
The practical effect is that a Revolut customer in London can hold 50,000 pounds in an FSCS-protected current account and 10,000 pounds worth of Bitcoin in the same app. If Revolut Bank UK fails, the 50,000 pounds is covered. The Bitcoin is not.
This two-tier architecture is becoming the industry template. Crypto.com, Nexo, and other crypto-native firms that have pursued or obtained banking licenses in various jurisdictions face the same structural question: where does the regulated bank end and the crypto exchange begin?
Three Billion Pounds and a US License Application
Revolut committed to investing 3 billion pounds in the UK and creating 1,000 high-skilled jobs as part of its banking expansion. The company also plans to expand into 30 new markets by 2030, targeting 100 million customers by mid-2027.
One week before the UK approval, on March 5, Revolut filed a US banking license application with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The application seeks to create Revolut Bank US, N.A., which would let the company operate as a nationally chartered bank across all 50 states, access Fedwire and ACH directly, and offer lending products without relying on its current partner, Lead Bank.
The OCC has been at the center of a fight between traditional banks and fintechs over federal charter access. Wall Street institutions have pushed back against the OCC granting banking charters to non-traditional firms, arguing it creates regulatory arbitrage. Revolut's application drops into that ongoing tension.
What This Means for Crypto Card Users in the UK
For holders of crypto cards in the UK, Revolut's banking license creates an interesting competitive dynamic. Revolut already offered a Visa debit card linked to its app, but it functioned under the e-money framework. Now it sits on the same regulatory footing as a traditional bank card.
This does not change the crypto card landscape overnight. Revolut's crypto services remain in a separate entity, so spending crypto through the Revolut card still involves the same conversion mechanics and entity boundaries. But the deposit insurance on the fiat side gives Revolut a trust advantage that pure-play crypto card issuers cannot match without their own banking licenses.
For users who split their spending between fiat and crypto, the separation matters. Stablecoin-funded cards from issuers like Gnosis Pay or self-custody options carry different risk profiles. None of them offer FSCS protection on balances. The counterparty risk that comes with custodial crypto platforms remains the core difference.
The broader signal is directional. As fintechs graduate into regulated banks and crypto firms seek similar licenses, the line between "fintech app with crypto" and "bank that also does crypto" is being redrawn. Revolut is among the first to show what that looks like at scale: 70 million users, a $75 billion valuation, and a firewall between insured deposits and uninsured digital assets.
Overview
Revolut received a full UK banking license from the PRA on March 11, 2026, after a five-year application process. The new entity, Revolut Bank UK Ltd, will migrate 13 million UK customers in phases, providing FSCS deposit protection up to 120,000 pounds. Crypto trading remains in a separate, uninsured entity. The company also filed for a US banking license on March 5, plans to invest 3 billion pounds in the UK, and targets 100 million customers globally by mid-2027. The approval positions Revolut as a direct competitor to established UK banks while maintaining a clear regulatory wall between insured deposits and digital asset services.
