Hey Fintech Nerds,
This morning Revolut got conditional approval from the OCC for a US national bank charter. It’s charter season!
And now the US CEO and former CEO of Rasin US is coming to Fintech Nerdcon.
I've been shouting about it all day, so forgive me if you've heard. But the story behind the headline is the good bit.
Six weeks ago the OCC turned down Wise. Then it turned down Bunq. Bunq's rejection letter reads like a warning to every European neobank: European loss assumptions on a US credit card book, a board short on US card experience, capital the regulator couldn't see clearly.
Then the same regulator looked at Revolut and said yes.
The UK took four years to give Revolut a full banking license. The OCC took six months. Filed in March, conditional approval in September.
Every bank CEO I speak to in Europe tracks what Revolut ships, because it scares them. FX, then trading, then crypto, then business banking, one product at a time, until 80m customers, $6bn of revenue and 11 product lines each doing over $135m a year.
The US is a different fight. Branches still matter, the card market is brutal, and a lot of US banks have had it easy for a long time.
Somebody has to walk into that market and make Revolut work there. FDIC, the Fed, final OCC sign-off, a 2027 launch, and then the hard part: winning American customers one at a time.
That somebody is Cetin Duransoy, CEO of Revolut US.
And he's speaking at Fintech Nerdcon.
📌 San Diego. 19th and 20th November Tickets: HERE
I have questions.
How do you build a US bank from scratch when you already have 80m customers everywhere else?
What did the OCC want to see that Bunq couldn't show?
Where does Revolut attack first: cards, deposits, FX, stablecoins?
What happens to the partner bank model when the biggest fintechs stop needing one?
He'll be on stage answering them, in front of a room full of fintech nerds.
📌 San Diego. 19th and 20th November Tickets: HERE
If you've been on the fence about Nerdcon, this is the nudge.
See you there, Simon
