The race between the two largest mobile banks in Europe, Revolut and N26, which are often referred to as Ubers for banking, will be waged on the Croatian summer as well by the summer. Revolut has confirmed that in the next few months it plans to offer its services in Croatia and open an office here. Its main competitor, the German mobile bank N26, has recently entered the Slovenian market, reports Poslovni.hr on March 7, 2019.
Andreas Kapsos, Revolut’s marketing manager, says they are already preparing for the expansion to Croatia. “The official launch of Revolut in Croatia will take place in the next few months, as soon as we add support for the Croatian kuna (HRK) as one of the basic currencies,” says Kapsos. He adds that they are already working intensively and that the biggest obstacle is adding the kuna to the app so that users can simply add the funds to their Revolut account. “When we do this, everyone will be able to receive payments in kunas on their account, either from another bank account or from other cards. We will also be looking for a country manager for Croatia,” says Kapsos.
Until recently, Revolut was by far the largest mobile bank and the most valuable financial startup (fintech) in Europe. It has more than four million users, more than 650 employees and has more than 1.7 billion dollars of market value. Earlier this year, it was overtaken by N26, with more than 800 employees.
Both banks are expanding intensively across Europe, but also on other continents. Revolut specifically targets Asia while N26 is more focused on America. In the United States, their own mobile banks were launched by JP Morgan and Bank of America.
Mobile banks operate like other mobile apps and are not the same as mobile banking services offered by all the banks in Croatia. Registration of users in mobile banks is done via mobile phones, without paperwork. You immediately receive a current account with an IBAN which is valid throughout Europe. Both Revolut and N26 have European banking licenses, which means they can operate in all EU member states, including Croatia.
The Croatian National Bank (HNB) issued a press release three years ago, warning citizens to carefully read contracts they sign with financial institutions from the Union, which are opening branches in Croatia without the HNB’s approval since the HNB has no jurisdiction in those cases.
Although Revolut has so far successfully challenged existing players in the banking market, being the only major bank in Europe which allows direct buying and selling of cryptocurrencies, this year it was hit by the first affair. The British Financial Conduct Authority is investigating Revolut for suspicion that the company neglected some of the money laundering regulations, which the company strongly denies.
More news about banks in Croatia can be found in the Business section.
Translated from Poslovni.hr (reported by Bernard Ivezić).
