Revolut trebles loss as digital bank continues to expand customer base
Digital banking firm Revolut trebled its loss last year as the fintech firm took on three times as many staff to handle its continued expansion.
The UK’s most valuable fintech said it booked a £104.7m loss in the 12 months ended 31 December, up from £34.1m the previous year.
At the end of December, revenue stood at £162.7m, up from £58.2m the year before.
As a result of nearly tripling its customer base from 3.5m in 2018 to 10m at the year end, the firm also had to take on almost three times as many staff.
Revolut’s global headcount now stands at 2,261, up from 633 the year before.
It also added nearly 220,000 business accounts, a 260 per cent increase year on year.
Despite the coronavirus downturn, Revolut has continued to grow its customer base, albeit at a slower rate.
In an accompanying announcement to today’s results, it said that its customer base had now risen to 13m during the coronavirus lockdown.
However, the company said that it had seen a decline in interchange revenue due to customers making fewer transactions during the downturn.
Revolut reassured investors that despite the slowed growth, the firm had “a comfortable level of headroom above its regulatory capital and liquidity requirements”.
The performance sets it apart from fellow challenger bank Monzo, which last month said that there was “significant doubt” over its ability to continue trading after doubling its losses during the pandemic.
Meanwhile, Starling Bank said it expects to break even by the end of this year and be profitable in 2021, despite more than doubling its losses in 2019.
In June, Revolut also completed a new funding round, raising $580m, which it said it would use to accelerate its banking operations rollout across Europe, expanding to full bank accounts and lending services.
Founder and chief executive Nic Storonsky said: “Since the beginning of the year, we have focused on further developing innovative products for our customers, continuing to introduce Revolut to new markets, and increasing our revenue streams across the business, while reducing our operational costs.
“Despite the current economic challenges, we remain focused on our goal of moving towards profitability.”