”We currently have 20,000 users in Croatia and all this is through word of mouth,” stated Elena Lavezzi, the director for Southeastern Europe for Britain’s Revolut UK. Revolut company wants to become the first global digital bank.
As Novac/Filip Pavic writes on the 27th of June, 2019, this manager was born in Italy, was educated in Paris and London, and in the position of Revolut, where, among doing other things, she leads the markets of Italy, Croatia and Slovenia, came from the position of Director General for Europe for the Boston Crypto Startup Circle.
Before that, she worked at Uber and was part of the Uber launch team in India. As she herself says, her interest in technology that has the potential to change people’s daily lives on a global scale eventually led her to Revolut, a British company that created a mobile application (app) that can pay bills, send money and change currencies back in 2015. Revolut now has about four million users. Since it recently implemented the Croatian kuna in its offer, Novac talked with Elena Lavezzi about Revolut’s plans on the Croatian market, traditional banking, and the future of digital banks.
Do you think the Croatian market, which is financially still traditional, is ready for disruptive applications such as Revolut?
”Revolut is still in its test phase in Croatia, but we’ve noticed that there are no big fintech players. Also, as far as I can see, Croats are quite orientated towards traditional banks. It’s the same as in Italy, they use a lot of cash, and not so much bank cards. When I lived and worked in London last year, I didn’t have to withdraw cash from an ATM even once, and here, I had to withdraw 200 kuna in just one day. That’s why I think there’s plenty of potential for Revolut. We’re new, simple, innovative and transparent. But to understand the app’s value, you have to be able to understand the millennials, as well as my mother.”
In what way do you expect the older, more skeptical generation to turn to the app?
”We need to be aware that we’re working with people’s money and that they have to trust in this innovation, and that’s a matter for market education. This will be the responsibility of our local team in Croatia. They need to introduce the application to the people, educate them, and eliminate their suspicions. We want Revolut to be a real and local brand, and we’ll manage to achieve this by going from top to bottom and establishing strong local customer support.”
How do you guarantee the same security for the customers that can be offered by traditional banks?
”Revolut is a financial institution approved by the British Financial Management Authority and is obliged to protect the funds of its customers according to their requirements. In addition, we’re subject to the 2011 Electronic Money Laundering Regulation and the 2017 Money Laundering Regulation.;;
To open the Revolut application, apart from providing your personal information, your bank card information is also required, from which money is transferred to the appl Does Revolut still require a bank account?
”Yes, we still need traditional banks and we can’t expect people to say overnight, “Here, I’m going to put everything I’ve got on the application.” But soon, that will change.”
When, in your opinion, will digital banks completely replace traditional banks?
”Our plan is to have 100 million users worldwide in the next five years. But I don’t think that digital banks will completely replace traditional ones, but I do think that digital banks will become the way that users can deal with their payments on a daily basis.”
Can you receive a salary via this app, for example? Similarly, give your Revolut account number to your employer?
”Not at the moment, but we hope to support it in the very near future. We’re working hard to bring local IBANs and a more localised product to our customers in Croatia and every country we operate in.”
Make sure to follow our dedicated business page for much more.
