Revolut Fintech Startup Obtains Australian License: Details

Alan Tsen, Chairman of FinTech Australia, congratulated Revolut Limited on obtaining its Australian Financial Services (AFS) license, a major necessity in Australia for financial and credit instruments.

Revolut: Welcome to Australia

Today, Mr. Tsen released a letter from the Revolut team about the latest updates on their licensing process. Since its launch in Australia, Revolut has worked under an exemption granted by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). This exemption is valid until June 1, 2020.

Congrats @RevolutApp on obtaining an AFSL ? pic.twitter.com/aB4dhRTzex

— Alan Tsen (@alantsen) May 23, 2020

To expand its presence in Australia, Revolut moved its operations to the dedicated local-registered entity Revolut Payments Australia Pty Ltd (or Revolut Australia). This firm also recently obtained a major ASIC license.

Under this license, Revolut will deliver all their services for Australian customers 'right from Australia'.

Australia was the first country in which Revolut had a presence outside of Europe. It launched in Australia 'in beta mode' in June 2019 with three teams based in Melbourne, Sydney, and Perth.

Leader of Fintech Sector

Revolut Limited was founded in London in 2015 by British-Russian entrepreneur Nikolay Storonsky and former Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank developer Vlad Yatsenko. It offers banking services that include bank deposits, credit cards, currency exchange, and trading instruments.

It also works with Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and supports cryptocurrency trading and remittances tool kits.

The last round of funding (Q1 2020), which was led by Technology Crossover Ventures, tripled Revolut valuation to ca 4.2B GBP. Its closest rival, digital bank Monzo, is valued at 2B GBP.

Revolut Limited obtained its first EU license in Lithuania, but in 2019, the authorities of this post-Soviet state started an investigation against the bank due to alleged 'Kremlin links' with its founder.