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Revolut Now Likely To Launch Locally

A major change is coming to South Africa’s banking world.

Revolut, one of the world’s biggest digital banks, has set its sights on launching here. That means more competition, more choice and possibly lower fees for South African consumers.

There has been a lot of speculation about whether they are looking to launch or not, but with staff appointments now seemingly underway, it looks more likely than ever.

Read that here: Is Revolut Coming To SA?

Revolut started in London in 2015 offering a prepaid card with low-cost foreign exchange. It quickly grew into a powerful financial “super app” used by more than 40 million people.

Today, it operates in places like the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, Japan, Singapore, New Zealand and across Europe. The company has now applied for a local banking licence and appointed Jacques Meyer to lead its South African operations.

What makes Revolut different is how consumer centric it is and how quickly it can move. Revolut pride themselves on listening closely to what people want and adapting its services to match. In some countries it offers simple payment tools, while in others it provides a full banking service with multi-currency accounts, stock trading, insurance, travel perks and even cryptocurrency options. It is known for responding quickly to customer needs and keeping fees low.

If it brings that same approach to South Africa, it could push local banks to work harder to keep up and could mean they also have to charge less.

More Options For South Africans

The timing is important. More South Africans are banking online than ever before.

Discovery Bank, TymeBank and Old Mutual’s upcoming digital bank are already competing for customers, while traditional banks like Absa, Capitec, FNB, Nedbank and Standard Bank are upgrading their systems to stay in the race.

‘Its move into South Africa is part of a bigger plan to expand across Africa, with Nigeria and Kenya likely next’

Revolut plans to become one of the top three financial apps in every country it enters. Its move into South Africa is part of a bigger plan to expand across Africa, with Nigeria and Kenya likely next.

For consumers, this is good news. More competition usually means lower fees, better products and services designed to make life easier. When Revolut launches here soon, it will likely change how we bank and how much we all pay for banking.