Episode summary
Revolut CEO Nik Storonsky on Building a Fintech Giant | The David Rubenstein Show
The David Rubenstein Show
· · 24 min · Hosts: David Rubenstein · Guests: Nik Storonsky
Summary
Nik Storonsky says Revolut began with a simple grievance: hidden foreign-exchange fees. He describes the original product as a card and app that let customers spend or exchange money at interbank rates, and says the company later expanded into a full digital bank with banking, wealth management, stock trading, savings, crypto, borrowing, and lifestyle services packed into one app. He says Revolut now serves people in more than 40 countries and has become a fully licensed bank in Europe and the UK, while also applying for a US banking license.
Storonsky argues that Revolut’s growth came from product-led distribution rather than heavy marketing, with word of mouth carrying the service in its early years. He says the company now has 75 million customers and could ultimately reach 200 million, with an internal goal of 100 million daily active customers. He also says the firm is preparing for an IPO in roughly two years if markets cooperate, while using secondary sales to provide employee liquidity before listing.
Beyond Revolut, he discusses his venture fund and says he prefers a scientific, data-driven approach to investing. Looking ahead, he expects banking to become more digital and sees less room for legacy banks and physical branches, while also saying fintech competition is increasingly hard because many players have already caught up.
Key takeaways
- Storonsky says Revolut’s core insight was to eliminate foreign-exchange fees and let users spend abroad at interbank rates.
- He says Revolut now has 75 million customers and an internal target of 100 million daily active customers.
- Storonsky says the company is applying for a US banking license and expects the process could take up to 12 months.
- He says Revolut may be ready for an IPO in about two years, depending on market conditions.
- Storonsky says the company grew for its first 5 to 7 years with no marketing spend, relying on word of mouth.
Notable quotes
“So everything is packed into one simple up. So you can get banking, you can do wealth management, stock trading, savings bonds, crypto can borrow money”
“my initial idea was to build a product is simple, up with a card attached to it that allows you to spend money anywhere in the world at inter-bank rate”
“We didn't spend any single marketing for the first 5 to 7 years of our being in operation”
“So have 75 million customers. How big do you think you can take it? You think you can take it to 100 million customers or more? Yeah, we can take it 200 million customers”
“Well, the way I think about it, we kind of will be ready probably in two years time”
How the episode opens
This is my kitchen table and also my filing system. Over much of the past three decades, I've been an investor the highest calling of mankind I've often thought was private equity. And then I started interviewing.
Oh, I watch your interviews because I know how to do something. I've learned in doing my interviews how leaders make it to the top. I asked him how much you wanted.
He said to 50. I said, Fine. I didn't negotiate with him.
I didn't know due diligence. I have something I'd like to sell and how they stay there. You don't feel inadequate now because being only the second wealthiest man in the world, Is that right?
In 2015, Nick Skowronski started a small company designed to help people with their foreign currency exchanges. Today, that company is Revolut. It is the most valuable pre-IPO company in all of Europe.
I had a chance recently in Washington, D.C., to sit down with Nixon Trotsky to talk about his amazing story, how he grew a very small company into such a giant financial behemoth. Let's talk about Rebel Loot, because it's a company that's based in U.K. focused more on Europe than the United States.
And we'll get to that in a moment. But let's talk about what it does for the American audience, for example. What is rebel loot?
What does it actually do? Well, roll it as a digital bank. So we provide global banking services for our people in more than 40 countries.
So everything is packed into one simple up. So you can get banking, you can do wealth management, stock trading, savings bonds, crypto can borrow money. And you also have lifestyle service, for example, that can get your self esteem.
It can earn a book allowance.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- hidden foreign exchange fees
- fintech growth
- us expansion
- ipo plans
- future of banking
Companies and tickers mentioned
- Revolut
Watch the episode
Watch “Revolut CEO Nik Storonsky on Building a Fintech Giant | The David Rubenstein Show” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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