Revolut clears a first US banking hurdle as its valuation climbs to $115 billion

Revolut, the London-based financial super-app, has received preliminary conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for a proposed US bank charter, Revolut Bank US, according to reporting in early September 2026. The company serves more than 80 million customers worldwide and is currently valued at approximately $115 billion through an ongoing secondary share sale — a figure that would place it among the most valuable privately held fintech companies globally.

A US banking license is a milestone Revolut has pursued for years, and this approval is only the first of several steps rather than a green light to open for business. The company still needs sign-off from the FDIC, given deposit insurance is central to any US retail bank, and from the Federal Reserve, before the OCC grants final authorization. Revolut is targeting a launch in the first half of 2027, giving it roughly a year to clear the remaining regulatory stages.

The strategic logic is straightforward: Revolut has built a large global user base offering banking, currency exchange, trading and crypto services largely outside the United States, and a US charter would let it hold deposits and lend directly in the world’s largest financial market rather than operating through partner banks or a narrower money-transfer license. That matters competitively against US-based neobanks like Chime and SoFi, which already hold bank charters or bank partnerships domestically.

The $115 billion valuation, set through a secondary sale rather than a primary fundraising round, reflects existing and departing shareholders trading stock rather than new capital entering the company — a common liquidity mechanism for large private fintechs that avoids a public listing. Whether that valuation holds will depend heavily on execution over the next year: securing the remaining US approvals, actually launching Revolut Bank US on schedule, and proving the super-app model translates to a market with entrenched, well-capitalized incumbent banks.