Revolut’s Australian business seems so determined to enter the local retail deposits market that it could begin marketing transaction and savings accounts before it secures a banking licence from APRA.
While local chief executive Matt Baxby confirmed to a senate committee in late August that Revolut was engaged in talks with the prudential regulator on plans to launch a bank in Australia, recent amendments to the company’s ASIC-issued financial services licence indicate it might be preparing to strike a distribution deal with an established bank.
According to the ASIC database, the financial services licence of Revolut Payments Australia was amended on 24 August to allow the company to market and give general advice on basic deposit products such as transaction and savings accounts.
However, the authority given by ASIC is qualified to the extent that Revolut can only deal in such deposit products “on behalf of another person”.
This raises the prospect of Revolut entering the deposits market as an originator for local ADI products.
Given that Revolut claims to have more than 100,000 customers signed up for its financial products in Australia, there would be plenty of banks and credit unions interested in striking a deal.
Potential candidates might include Heritage Bank and Volt Bank.
Revolut already has a service relationship with ANZ.
The Melbourne-based bank manages the trust accounts that hold customers’ funds that have been loaded on to one of Revolut’s electronic money products.
However, Revolut’s aggressive brand positioning as a challenger to the four major banks would likely render ANZ a non-starter as a strategic partner for deposit products.
Baxby underlined the company’s the anti-major bank sentiment at a senate committee hearing in late August, where he also revealed the company planned to lodge an application for a banking licence.
“We've engaged with APRA and are intent on filing an application to become an Aussie bank,” he told the parliamentary committee.
“Our mission is to directly challenge the incumbent banks. They've got wide margins.
“They offer a suboptimal user experience, and their business model's really quite reliant on customer apathy.
“We want to give value back to consumers where they've been under-served for so long, and we want to put Australians back in control of their finances.”
Baxby also highlighted Revolut’s commitment to build a significant presence in the booming cryptocurrency market.
“Revolut aims to increase the accessibility of crypto assets and strives to be the easiest and safest place to trade, use and learn about cryptocurrency,” he told the committee.
“We're not a crypto exchange ourselves, but through our unique model, which partners with crypto exchanges, we offer a simple way for customers to buy, hold and sell crypto assets.”