Revolut, the digital neo-bank that offers payment, savings and investment services and has more than 50 million customers worldwide of which almost three million are in Italy, announces the launch of the Italian branch of Revolut Bank UAB and the Italian IBANs. The company now offers Italian IBANs to all new customers and will offer existing customers the option of migrating to an Italian IBAN from January 2025.
The Italian branch of Revolut Bank UAB has been operational since 18 November, with an initial test period now over. As of this week, all new Revolut customers opening a current account in Italy will receive an Italian IBAN (starting with IT) instead of a Lithuanian IBAN (starting with LT) as was the case until now. All accounts will be managed by the Italian branch of Revolut Bank UAB and supervised by the local regulator (Banca d’Italia) and the European Central Bank. Customer deposits will continue to be covered up to EUR 100,000 by the Deposit Guarantee Fund of the Bank of Lithuania.
Nicola Vicino, recently appointed general manager of the Italian branch (pictured), says in a note: “This move makes the Revolut Bank UAB branch in Italy a full-fledged bank in the country. Offering a current account with an Italian IBAN will facilitate everyday transactions and the use of Revolut, making it much easier for customers to choose us as their main bank . Il nostro conto italiano può ora essere utilizzato per ricevere lo stipendio e pagare bollette o addebiti diretti senza alcuna frizione. Inoltre, la succursale si muove sotto la supervisione dell’autorità di regolamentazione italiana; mentre siamo orgogliosi di essere una super-app finanziaria globale, non trascuriamo l’importanza di essere localmente rilevanti e conformi in Italia come in ogni mercato in cui operiamo”.
According to a study carried out by Dynata for Revolut in 2023 on a representative sample of the Italian population of one thousand people aged 18 and over, almost half of Italians (46%) consider a local IBAN essential when choosing a bank as their main account. The addition of the Italian IBAN will make it easier for users to credit salaries and debit bills to their Revolut account. This innovation, together with the complete ecosystem of products offered by the superapp (loans, investments, budgeting, travel, etc.), makes Revolut an alternative to traditional banks.
The local IBAN account is not the only new product that Revolut has announced this year. The company has also recently started offering personal loans, a highly flexible product with no additional costs or fees, and no origination costs, to be followed by other credit products in 2025. Also recently announced was the Revolut Terminal service in Italy, a new speed-optimised POS device that allows businesses to accept payments in seconds and meet the growing demand for fast and reliable point-of-sale (POS) devices. Italy is the third European market to introduce this new product, following the launch of the Terminal in the UK and Ireland in October.
Ignacio Zunzunegui, head of growth Southern Europe at Revolut, comments: ‘Our offering has matured a lot: from a paper for travelling to a much more complete ecosystem of financial functionalities with a powerful banking product at its core. With a few taps on the smartphone, our customers can send money via chat, spend without obstacles, pay taxes without fees with pagoPA, set aside money for specific projects, send instant SEPA transfers for free, book a hotel or an experience, apply for a loan in minutes, and much more. Furthermore, following the launch of Italian IBANs, we will soon enable our customers to access interest on deposits through a new product that we will launch in the coming weeks.”
Revolut is growing relentlessly in Italy and has achieved the title of most downloaded financial app in 2024, while it is the only bank among the 20 most downloaded apps this year, along with names such as Instagram, TikTok, Amazon, ChatGPT, to name a few. The company announced the two million customer milestone last June and estimates it will reach three million in early 2025, with four million as its target by the end of next year. This year, Italians made 300 million transactions using Revolut, an increase of 86 per cent compared to 2023. The national share of transactions is almost 70 per cent, demonstrating that the vast majority of Italians use Revolut as their regular account. Revolut is also establishing itself as a trustworthy bank among Italians,” adds the note released by the company. “In 2024, it was recognised by Altronconsumo as the favourite bank among consumers (from a study of over 30,000 people) and awarded by Statista/Corriere della Sera for the best customer support among online banks.
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