Revolut has been trying to launch a Portuguese IBAN for two years. Delay justified by ‘reorganisation of priorities’
The British fintech company guarantees that the goal of creating an international account number and a branch will continue and will be completed by 2025.
Valentine’s Day 2023 was the date chosen by Revolut to ‘date’ Portugal and announce that it would launch a Portuguese IBAN and a branch in the country. But two years on, the plans are still not going ahead. The British fintech company has been derailing these projects and declines to present a new official launch date.
“The delay was simply due to an internal reorganisation of priorities in terms of markets. That’s not to say that Portugal wasn’t a priority for Revolut, but we preferred to focus in 2024 on local products that also make a difference to our customers‘ lives, such as offering personal loans”, an official Revolut source explained to ECO.
Revolut guarantees that it is still aiming to launch an IBAN and the Portuguese branch this year, because it wants to ‘further consolidate growth in Portugal, increase the user base and product catalogue and, above all, increase recurrence and become the main bank for our users’. Currently, the IBAN is from Lithuania (LT), not least because Revolut Bank UAB, licensed by the ECB, is regulated by the Bank of Lithuania.
Revolut guarantees that it is still aiming to launch an IBAN and the Portuguese branch this year, because it wants to “further consolidate growth in Portugal, increase the user base and product catalogue and, above all, increase recurrence and become the main bank for our users”. Currently, the IBAN is from Lithuania (LT), not least because Revolut Bank UAB, licensed by the European Central Bank (ECB), is regulated by the Bank of Lithuania.
In 2024, Revolut gained 500,000 more customers in Portugal and increased the growth rate of users by 65 per cent. Transactions increased by 71% and their volume by 81% compared to the previous year. These figures and the ambitions surrounding the branch and the Portuguese IBAN for 2025 are fuelling the company’s goal of reaching two million customers in the country.
The IBAN – International Bank Account Number is a standardised payment account number structure which, with the national reference PT50, will win the trust of the country’s citizens who are less able to deposit or invest in digital and foreign financial institutions, Revolut believes.
Revolut is valued at more than 45 billion dollars (44 billion euros) and employs around 1,300 people in Portugal.
