Fintech company Revol will use its European banking license in the Czech Republic as well. Domestic clients – according to the company, there are over 300,000 of them – can switch to Revolut Bank via a mobile application.
The change is free and takes a few minutes. The main and so far practically the only advantage for clients will be that their savings will be newly protected by the European system deposit insurance – to the equivalent of 100 thousand euros, ie currently approximately 2.6 million crowns.
Revolut originally operated as a British non-banking company in the Czech Republic and other countries. In order to maintain the existing services after Brexit, he transferred his activities in the EU to a Lithuanian entity since last May. Clients moved under it automatically, in practice nothing has changed for them (except the transition to Lithuanian justice and supervision). Last year’s change did not include the automatic transfer of accounts under a Lithuanian banking license and the local deposit insurance scheme.
Revolut obtained a banking license in December 2018, to use it started only last May. First in Lithuania, where he obtained a license – a payment for the entire European Union -. Other plans were delayed. As a bank, Revolut from Lithuania has officially spread only to Poland and Slovakia, now also to the Czech Republic.
Transfer to a bank is not mandatory for clients. Those who do not do so will not participate in deposit insurance, nor will new products that Revolut like Bank is going. Already last May, the company talked about consumer credit a credit cards. So far, it has launched them only for those interested in Lithuania, in other countries it wants to offer them only after testing.
Even in the latest report, Revolut is not very specific. “The introduction of the bank in the Czech Republic will provide our customers with a higher level of security and trust and will allow us to launch many other new products and services in the near future,” says Nik Storonsky, head and co-founder of Revolut. Clients have not yet actually obtained their own account with a Czech number.
Revolut application and its debit card is important in practice mainly as an online exchange office with advantageous exchange rates. The basic version is free of charge for a monthly fee, it also offers investment into stocks and cryptocurrencies. Additional services are available for a monthly fee. In practice, it has paid off to have only as much money in your account as you currently need – using Revolut as a master account can be impractical and risky.
On the one hand, they have not yet been covered by the deposit insurance system, and on the other hand, there is a risk of problems with foreign support and account blocking – especially for the basic variant without a flat rate. It is not possible to communicate with Revolut in Czech and, according to clients’ experience, it does not take much account of Czech documents if it asks you, for example, for documents regarding income (protection against money laundering). In other words: in case of problems, there is a risk of temporary blockage of money indefinitely.
