As for us, we are evolving towards a general financial super app that not only provides a digital wallet. Users of our app can manage their day-to-day finances with our advanced budgeting and analytics tools, use lifestyle and travel products such as booking a stay abroad in a private apartment, invest in stocks, commodities or cryptocurrencies as and chat with each other in our instant messaging app, send money to kids with Revolut <18. We are continuously expanding our product portfolio across markets and industries ie. we focus a lot on new services for the travel industry.
What are your expectations for 2023 and beyond? What can we expect from the sector? How do you think it will develop, and do you expect new companies to increase competition?
The industry will continue to evolve due to the expansion of open banking, the adoption of decentralized finance, the wider use of artificial intelligence and machine learning, etc. As the fintech industry continues to grow and innovate, regulators will introduce new laws and regulations to protect consumers and ensure that financial services are provided in a safe and secure manner. As for us, despite the challenges in the technology industry and many layoffs at leading global companies, our position remains strong – we are not only profitable, constantly growing, but also expanding into new markets and continuing to hire more and more talent. We therefore remain positively cautious for the remainder of 2023 and beyond.
For the sixth year in a row, “Capital” in partnership with the fintech company F27 are organizing the Fintech and Insurtech Summit conference, which will be held on March 28 in Sofia. During the event, representatives of international and Bulgarian companies from the sector, the state and regulators will outline the main trends in financial technologies for this and the following years. In addition to a strategic overview of global fintech trends, experts will discuss the future of banking financial technologies, how to use artificial intelligence in finance, and technology innovators will tell the stories of their companies and projects. You can learn everything about the conference here.
How do you define Revolut’s place in the fintech market?
As a fintech company, we innovate and build our own proprietary technologies that allow us to offer better transaction processing than many legacy banks can offer. People expect transactions to be instant, accessible and easy, and we strive to meet those expectations. But we’re not just disrupting the payments industry anymore: our app gives people a seamless experience for everyday finance (budgeting, analytics, having an account for kids), but also for travel and lifestyle (currency exchange, booking accommodation, safe shopping with cashback), investment instruments (US listed stocks, cryptocurrencies, commodities), in some markets we have started to offer credit.
Which companies do you identify as your main competitors?
We don’t see competition as our main focus. Our main goal is to create the best product for our customers.
In the past year, you’ve doubled your headcount despite the general trend of layoffs in the tech sector. Do you anticipate reducing or increasing staff by the end of this year? Is this increase due, at least in part, to bringing in people from your existing outsourcing partners?
Currently, our team is over 6,000 people worldwide and we continue to grow. And this is not related to insourcing positions in any way.
What new services can your customers expect in the coming months?
We typically enter a market with bank accounts, debit cards and instant money transfers, currency exchange services and later introduce more products such as treasury, credit, investment or lifestyle products, including non-financial services such as holiday accommodation booking or the instant messages, but it’s a step-by-step process.
We have started to offer credit products such as consumer loans, credit cards, “buy now, pay later” and savings products in the first European markets and will continue our expansion in this area. As for future plans, we will also enhance our investment offering with additional services, launch joint accounts for couples and families, in Ireland we will start offering motor insurance, improve our travel proposition globally.
Not long ago Revolut has announced 2021 as its first full year of profit. Will you repeat this result in 2022? How will you comment on the fact that the auditor BDO expressed doubt about the way the company’s income is reported?
We are self-sustaining, well capitalized and in FY21 we are also profitable. In 2021, we generated £26.3 million in net profit, marking the first full year in the black for Revolut. The company’s total revenue for 2021 as set out in our annual report has been confirmed by our auditors to be accurate and beyond doubt. Our auditor’s opinion means that they did not have 100% assurance under auditing standards to confirm beyond doubt what proportion was attributable to certain revenues (subscriptions, card supply, currency services and wealth), but our total revenue and balance sheet were out of the question. The restrictions were lifted in 2021. We do not expect our financial year 2022 report to reflect these restrictions again.
