British fintech will create a branch in Portugal in a strategy of proximity to the national market. And it is still in negotiations with Sibs to enter the Multibanco network.
Revolut is determined to be the choice of the Portuguese when it comes to receiving their salary and paying their bills. The fintech believes it is possible to reach the “top 3” of the national banking sector and, for such, will establish a branch in Portugal, giving Portuguese customers an IBAN beginning with “PT”.
Currently, Revolut customers in Portugal are based in Lithuania and are assigned a foreign IBAN. With this structural change, in addition to the Portuguese IBAN, Revolut will now provide a native customer support channel, with service in the Portuguese language.
The news were detailed to ECO by Ignacio Zunzunegui. The head of Revolut’s expansion strategy in Southern Europe promises great news for customers in 2023, after the company has surpassed the milestone of one million users in the Portuguese market, but did not commit to deadlines.
While preparing a new offensive to traditional banking in Portugal, Revolut chose this market to launch a savings product. Soon, the Portuguese will be able to invest in money market funds in euros, dollars and pounds, with the company pointing to yields of up to 4% in these funds. Ignacio Zunzunegui reminded, however, that these products have a higher risk than deposits, for not having guaranteed capital (until recently, some of these funds had negative interest rates).
Aware that the Portuguese still give preference to the MB Way application, which is controlled by Sibs and owned by the major banks, Revolut is still in negotiations with the competition to allow Revolut cards to be added to this platform. Ignacio Zunzunegui said he is directly involved in the talks and expressed confidence that they will reach a successful conclusion soon as well. But he stressed that it is not net that they will result in an agreement.
Finally, in terms of human resources, the company maintains a center in Matosinhos, where it employs 1,200 people, according to official figures. Ignacio Zunzunegui pointed out that 20% of Revolut’s global workforce lives in Portugal and ruled out any intention of making layoffs, as has happened with other technology companies. On the contrary, he assures to have about 180 open positions.
