Revolut opens branch in Portugal

Lisbon: Revolut’s branch in Portugal opened on 24 July, offering Portuguese IBANs to customers, the head of the Portuguese operation told Lusa, adding that Revolut aims to become the third-largest bank in terms of customers within three years.

“We want to be in the top three nationally; it’s an ambition,” Rúben Germano told Lusa, adding that Revolut will become the third-largest bank in Portugal by number of customers within three years.

Until now, Revolut operated in Portugal under the freedom to provide services regime from Lithuania. From now on, it will have a branch in Portugal, which will remain dependent on the Lithuanian bank (Revolut Bank UAB), which is why deposits are still protected by the Lithuanian guarantee fund.

Currently, Revolut has 1.8 million individual customers in Portugal, and, according to Rúben Germano, with the Portuguese IBAN (bank account number) and the new associated services, “the pace will accelerate.”

The head of Revolut in Portugal explained that with the Portuguese branch and the Portuguese IBAN, access to services such as direct debits is easier (currently, some companies do not allow these services in accounts with foreign IBANs), services he identifies as essential for Portuguese banking customers.

With these changes, Revolut will now be integrated into the Portuguese payment system, integrating with Multibanco and MB Way systems.

“This is extremely important. With the Portuguese IBAN, we will be able to be present in more moments of the customer’s daily life, becoming their main account,” he said, noting that until now, without these financial products, Revolut could not be.

Revolut will also launch a deposit account with daily interest.

However, for now, the migration process for existing customers to the Portuguese branch will be gradual over the next few weeks, and some features (such as Multibanco) will only be available after the migration is complete, Revolut said.

When asked about mortgage loans, Rúben Germano stated that there are no plans for Revolut to offer these loans in Portugal. The group is only offering these loans in Ireland and Lithuania, evaluating market performance before deciding whether to expand to other countries.

“Right now, we’re still learning about the product. We don’t have any plans [for Portugal] yet. But we know it’s a very important product in the Portuguese market. I think that when we have all the products we’ll launch in this month and a half, we’ll only be missing this [mortgage loan],” he stated.

Revolut does not disclose revenue and net income from its operations in Portugal, nor its investments in the country.

The Revolut group posted profits of €934 million in 2024, more than double the €395 million in 2023.

The bank, which describes itself as a ‘financial superapp,’ has over 55 million customers and over 10,000 employees worldwide. In Portugal, Revolut has 1,300 employees.