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Revolut expands team in 20 European countries, prepares for US launch

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UK FinTech firm Revolut has expanded its international team hiring country managers in 20 European nations including France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and Italy.

The London-based startup, which recently raised a $66m Series B, now employs around 200 members of staff and claims to be increasing its headcount by around 25 people per month.

Revolut markets itself as a ‘banking alternative’, offering business and personal accounts, a prepaid MasterCard debit card, free international transfers using the interbank exchange rate, fee-free spending abroad (also at the interbank exchange rate) and fee-free overseas ATM withdrawals (with a cap of £200 per month).

Nikolay Storonsky, founder and CEO of Revolut, said: “Across Europe, we’re certain that by having local teams on the ground, we can enhance our efforts and reach an even wider audience.”

The company launched in the UK in 2015 and plans to expand to North America and Asia this year, with the waiting list for US customers set to launch next week.

It aims to open an office in New York later in the year with the view of employing around 10 people to initially manage North American operations. New roles will include the likes of country manager, PR, compliance and customer service.

Unlike competitors Starling Bank, Monzo and Atom Bank, Revolut doesn’t have a banking licence, which means customer funds are not FSCS-protected. The firm is, however, regulated by the FCA with an e-money licence.

Revolut claims to currently have 800,000 users and projects it will reach a million by the end of the year, with a target of 50 million within the next five years. Reports earlier in the year revealed the startup made a pre-tax loss of £7.1m in 2016, its first full year of operations. The company’s directors said this loss was largely down to “card scheme costs, acquiring costs, and user acquisition costs”.

Storonsky told Business Insider he was confident his company would continue to sign up users at a rapid pace and would break-even by November.

“Within two short years, we have already demonstrated the demand out there for a genuine, everyday alternative to a bank,” he told UKTN.

“We’re extremely confident that our launch across North America and Asia will be met with similar demand as those parts of the world are not immune to high fees and poor banking infrastructure.”

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