Revolut has applied to establish a bank branch in Finland, a step aimed at giving its Finnish customers access to local account numbers.
The company describes the move as part of a broader ambition to become the primary bank for more of its customers across Europe.
Revolut currently serves more than 250.000 customers in Finland. According to the company, establishing a licensed branch in the country would allow these customers to obtain local Finnish account numbers, rather than relying solely on the international IBAN structure tied to its Lithuanian banking entity. In addition, Revolut said this would make routine banking tasks, including receiving salary payments and managing bill payments, more straightforward for Finnish users, since local account numbers are commonly required by employers and service providers operating within the domestic Finnish payment system.
Regulatory and market context
Revolut Bank UAB is authorised and regulated by the Bank of Lithuania and supervised by the European Central Bank, and it has used this licence to passport its banking services into other EU and EEA markets, including Finland, without a physical branch presence. A branch application in Finland would mark a shift towards a more localised regulatory and operational footprint in the country, involving direct engagement with Finnish supervisory authorities alongside its existing Lithuanian licence. Revolut has framed the application as reflecting its commitment to investing in local markets and strengthening cooperation with national regulators, rather than operating solely under cross-border passporting arrangements.
Broader implications for Revolut's European strategy
The Finland application fits into Revolut's stated aim of deepening its presence in individual European markets, rather than offering a uniform pan-European product accessed exclusively through its Lithuanian entity. For a company that has built a large customer base across the continent through EU passporting rights, moving towards local branches in specific countries signals a strategic emphasis on becoming embedded in domestic financial infrastructure, including local clearing and account numbering systems, rather than functioning purely as a cross-border digital bank.
The company has not disclosed a timeline for regulatory approval of the Finnish branch application or specified which additional services, beyond local account numbers, might follow from the change in status. As with any banking licence or branch application, the outcome will depend on assessment by the relevant Finnish and EU supervisory authorities.
Revolut's move follows a broader pattern among digital-first financial institutions of seeking closer regulatory alignment with the individual national markets they serve, as customer numbers and the scale of deposits and transactions handled in those markets grow.
