Revolut has cleared its first major hurdle toward becoming a full US bank. The British fintech received conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for a national bank charter, putting it on track to open a fully licensed American bank by 2027. That approval isn’t the finish line. Revolut still needs sign off from the FDIC and Federal Reserve before it can start operating, according to Cetin Duransoy, the company’s US CEO, who spoke with Reuters.
The new bank will sit in Stamford, Connecticut, funded by roughly $95 million from Revolut. It’s set to open in the first half of 2027 with a team of about 160 people, offering checking accounts, installment loans, credit cards, and foreign exchange services. Duransoy also confirmed plans for a stablecoin, and said the bank will draw on Revolut’s operations in Europe and Latin America to support multicurrency accounts.
This is part of a broader pattern for Revolut, which has been turning its 80 million customer base into direct banking licenses rather than leaning on bank partners. It picked up a French banking license last month and was cleared to operate as a bank in the UK back in March.
Herald View: Choosing a national charter over a bank partnership puts Revolut alongside SoFi and Varo, but building a stablecoin into the same launch means it’s tackling two of banking’s toughest approvals at once: deposit taking authority and digital dollar issuance. The OCC’s nod is genuine progress, not a done deal. FDIC and Fed approval is precisely where similar bids have run into trouble before.