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Friday, 29.03.2024, 15:35
Revolut says it came to Lithuania to do business
Revolut CEO Nik Storonsky told that the startup, which is looking to launch
specialized bank services in Lithuania in the first half of this
year, will start in a more conservative, low-risk way.
He said allegations about Revolut's links to Russia are just a situation the firm has to
deal with, but hopes that these "baseless" fears will go away.
"In reality, customers love us, we built the best
product. So, in terms of our relationship and trust with customers, not at all
(it won't affect our business). However, negative PR does affect in the
way that potentially can damage our relationship with other partners that we
work with," the CEO told.
"Funny enough, it actually increased our growth in
Lithuania, so we were actually growing double speed. We now have 170,000
(mobile application) customers in Lithuania, and we are growing 300-400 a
day," he said.
Storonsky added that Revolut,
as "a regulated financial institution", would be obliged to provide
Lithuanian law-enfacement bodies with additional information if
requested.
Revolut plans to
attract 30 mln euros in deposits in its first year of operation as a
specialized bank in Lithuania and another 60 mln euros in the second year.
It will not pay interest on deposits initially, but may do so in the
future.
"We plan to take, first year, I think, around 30
mln euros in deposits (and) 60 million euros in year two. So, for us
priorities at the moment (are) to be sleek as product, as a bank, and
stable. For us it's a new activity and we want to get it right," Storonsky
said.
Chad West,
head of global marketing and communications at Revolut, said the startup plans to offer small personal
loans at interest rates lower than most banks charge.
"We have not finalized our business plan for Lithuania
yet in terms what APR (annual percentage rate) might look like. But to give you
a view (...), most banks charge 22% APR on average for a personal loan, Revolut will vary between 8-14%
depending on your credit score (speaking about the situation in the UK). It
gives people access to money, where big banks won't give it to them," he
said.
When asked about competition with conventional banks in
Lithuania, Revolut's executives said
they do not intend to compete just for the sake of competing.
"My plan is to build a global company, an Amazon of
banking, which means, we compete with banks. It doesn't mean that we are
particularly trying to compete with Lithuanian banks, we are just trying to
build the best product," Storonsky said.
Revolut said they
have serious and long-term plans for Lithuania and do not consider the country
as a springboard to larger markets.
"Lithuania is the hub of our European operations. Of
course, we may have to get a UK banking license because of Brexit, but
Lithuania will be the hub for the whole of Europe," West said.
"We had every country practically begging for Revolut to come. And Lithuania has the
best vision, in our view. It's definitely not a springboard," he said.
Storonsky said, "We definitely want to have a good long
term relationship with Lithuania".
Lithuania in December became the first European country to
issue Revolut with a specialized bank license.
A week later, Stasys
Jakeliunas, chairman of the Lithuanian parliament's Committee on Budget and
Finance, asked law-enforcement and intelligence bodies to look into the fintech
firm's business model and its possible links to Russian politicians.