Comparisons with first in class are often the death knell for new kids on the block. Young black politician, Chuka Umunna, was described in 2009 as Britain’s answer to President Barack Obama. He now works for a bank, having given up politics in favor of a far more stable career. Nik Storonsky has been described as the Jeff Bezos of finance. He will hope for a rather less obscure entry in the history books in ten years’ time.
Storonsky is the founder of Revolut, a trading and banking business that has already reached that holy grail of consumer penetration—verbification. In Ireland, to “revolut” simply means to transfer money, pay for something or split a bill on the bank’s app. To “Google” was recognized as a verb in America in 2002, four years after Larry Page and Sergei Brin officially incorporated the search company. To revolut became a verb in 2022, a matter of months after Storonsky’s company received its full banking license in Ireland. More than 80% of the country’s adult population uses the service.
Revolut is not short on ambition. It has applied for a U.S. banking license, a market ripe for the type of disruption that has swept through Ireland. Earlier this year, it was granted full banking status by the U.K. regulators, meaning Revolut can now more easily provide the complete range of current account, mortgage and deposit services that customers demand. It is operational in 40 countries and in March announced record profits of $2.3bn for 2025, a 57% increase.
Could Revolut become a verb in the U.K., one of the most valuable banking markets in the world and a country Storonsky has prioritized? “If we make this happen here, fantastic,” Francesca Carlesi, the U.K. CEO of Revolut, tells me. “The U.K. is a different market, more competitive—we actually like it’s competitive—so I don’t think we can replicate exactly the same factors [as Ireland]. But clearly for me the main lesson is that the [Revolut] watermark matters a lot. When people start being promoters of Revolut, it’s exciting.”
“Excited people” include Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase, who warned against missing the significance of fresh thinking. “Being a company of sizable magnitude makes it easier to ignore new competitors since they often start small in one product but move rapidly to expand,” he wrote in his April shareholder letter. He went on to name Revolut as one of the “most successful examples” of a disruptor. Analysts from Dimon’s bank said that Revolut’s 75 million customers worldwide were “more than the combined scale of Monzo, Starling, N26, Bunq and Wise and [are] approaching that of JPMorgan Chase”.
“Clearly for me the main lesson is that the [Revolut] watermark matters a lot. When people start being promoters of Revolut, it’s exciting”
Francesca Carlesi, U.K. CEO of Revolut
Investors have noticed. Revolut’s latest fund raise valued the firm at $75bn and Storonsky has spoken of a future IPO which could value the business—if someone doesn’t buy it before then – at north of $200bn. Nvidia and SoftBank are major backers.
“Nik’s vision originally said [Revolut would be] the single, global, financial super-app,” Carlesi said. “Fundamentally, the idea is that you need to have a single place, a single touch point where you go to and you see everything in terms of your financials. Actually, it’s not just financial, we say it is banking and beyond.
“We are probably the only bank at this point that has under the same app, the same roof, everyday banking, lending in the future, savings, trading, wealth management, crypto and everything you need to manage your lifestyle.
“What that means is not just being that one card that people have in their wallet, but being the card and a deep bank [that is] top of mind when you need to pay something, you need to buy something online or do trading. The shift that we’re doing is like growing up and repositioning the rebel as the go-to financial service partner.”
Banks are necessarily conservative. No one wants fast and loose operators around the important matter of money. But too often that has become shorthand for a stodgy and unresponsive sector that fails to respond to customer demand. The fact that many banks only allow transaction settlements between the hours of 9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday, should raise eyebrows in a globally connected, 24-hour world. Opening an account is still a painfully slow process.
“What Nik did was take a really big hairy problem, which people thought wasn’t solvable, and then start with a wedge, which in their case was cards when people are traveling,” said James Gibson, Revolut general manager and head of its business bank. “So, take it back to first principles and solve for that.
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“If you look back at the 1990s and 2000s, there was very little to no innovation in terms of banking for businesses or for retail customers. Even now, you look around Europe at the kind of banking apps and websites that are offered to business customers and it’s really quite shocking how it’s still not come that far.”
Storonsky was asked if he might be obliged to cut his hair to persuade U.S. regulators that he was a serious banker. “I think I definitely need to wear a suit,” he replied. The founder—who could be worth as much as $80bn if the IPO goes to plan—will hope that Revolut’s record of rapid expansion will do the rest.
