Revolut clears first US bank licensing hurdle, eyes 2027 launch
DeFi & Yields ·
The fintech has secured conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to form a national bank, a preliminary step toward operating as a chartered lender in the United States.
Revolut, described as Europe's most valuable startup, still needs sign-off from the FDIC and the Federal Reserve, plus final OCC approval, before it can open Revolut Bank US, which the company is targeting for 2027. Conditional OCC approval marks an early but necessary checkpoint in the multi-agency process required to stand up a national bank charter in the US, and it does not yet grant Revolut authority to operate as a bank.
Once all approvals are secured, Revolut says it will be able to offer U.S. customers loans, credit cards, and FDIC-insured deposits directly, alongside stablecoins and crypto services — bringing crypto-adjacent offerings under the umbrella of a chartered, deposit-insured bank rather than a standalone fintech product. That combination would let the company compete more directly with U.S. banks on core lending and deposit products while retaining the digital-asset services it already offers customers elsewhere.
The approval lands months after a secondary share sale in July valued Revolut at about $115 billion, underscoring the scale of the company entering the U.S. banking approval pipeline. The Block also reported the conditional OCC approval as a milestone toward a full U.S. banking charter.
Coverage of the development is corroborated across multiple outlets, with reporting consistently framing the OCC's conditional nod as a step rather than a finish line. What remains unresolved is the timeline and outcome of the pending FDIC and Federal Reserve reviews, as well as the terms of final OCC approval, all of which will determine whether Revolut Bank US launches as planned in 2027 and what specific crypto and stablecoin products it will be permitted to offer under a national charter.