Revolut Expands in Israel Even as EU Regulators Tighten the Screws
Revolut is hiring in Israel and preparing to seek a local banking license, while the European Central Bank has imposed strict limits on how quickly it may launch new products in the European Economic Area. The move highlights growing concerns about risk controls at one of the world’s most prominent fintech firms.
The British digital bank has recently posted LinkedIn openings in Israel for regulatory, technology, banking and credit roles. It has already named a local chief executive, former Pepper CEO Uri Nathan, and currently operates in the country under a limited license that allows money transfers and foreign exchange, but not full banking services. Its long-term goal is a so-called “thin bank” license that would let it compete directly with Israeli banks and payment apps such as Bit and Paybox.
If it gets there, Revolut plans to offer Israelis multi-currency accounts, low-fee exchanges across 100 currencies, international transfers, stock and crypto trading, and debit cards, all through an app without branches. Israel’s Securities Authority has already granted it a payment services license, and the company typically enters markets only after another digital bank has already established itself there, in Israel’s case One Zero.
In Europe, however, regulators say Revolut has weak risk-management processes and launches products too quickly. The ECB’s measures require more formal governance and approval procedures before new launches, an independent third party review of risk management, and stronger specialist staffing and approval independence. Revolut can still sell its existing products in the EEA. The company has also faced other regulatory trouble, including an April 2026 fine of 11.5 million euros from Italy’s competition authority for unfair commercial practices.
Revolut says it remains in dialogue with regulators and is committed to high governance standards, while a company source said internal processes have been strengthened. The firm said it had about 75 million customers worldwide at the end of 2025, reported record net profit of about 1.5 billion euros, up roughly 60%, and is planning a share sale valuing it at about 115 billion dollars. It received a full UK banking license in March and has applied for licenses in France and the United States.
