Revolut seeks to launch in South Africa by 2028 and is already drawing strong interest for its digital banking services from potential customers in the continent\u2019s largest economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are already seeing exceptional demand for our product, and our waitlist is fast approaching 100,000 registrations,\u201d Jacques Meyer, who leads the company\u2019s operations in South Africa, said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Revolut plans to introduce its so-called signature ecosystem in South Africa, with offerings specifically tailored for the local market, a company spokesperson said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It submitted a license application to the South African Reserve Bank in September and will launch its products, including a zero-fee account, after securing regulatory approvals, the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The startup sees the country as a strategic entry into Africa and plans to expand further on the continent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s also launching in the United Arab Emirates and is eyeing the wider Middle East and North Africa for growth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In recent weeks, it received approval in the UK to offer full banking services and has applied for a US banking charter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Co-founded and led by Chief Executive Officer Nikolay Storonsky, Revolut has about 75 million users worldwide. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s grown by offering mainstream banking and cheap overseas payments, alongside artificial intelligence-assisted wealth management and crypto.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The London-based company\u2019s expansion into South Africa, one of the world\u2019s most lucrative banking markets, will pit it against entrenched lenders and a growing field of digital challengers, many of which offer no-fee accounts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
New entrants, including billionaire Patrice Motsepe\u2019s GoTyme Bank, Discovery\u2019s lender and Old Mutual\u2019s bank, are making headway. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Retailers Pepkor and Shoprite plan to leverage loyalty-program data to expand into banking, while established lenders, among the most profitable in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, are responding by emphasising higher-value services for the rich.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe aren\u2019t interested in chasing customer acquisition numbers for the sake of a headline; instead, our focus is on delivering a majorly disruptive experience that fundamentally upgrades how people manage their money,\u201d Meyer said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By\u00a0Prinesha Naidoo for Bloomberg<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Revolut seeks to launch in South Africa by 2028 and is already drawing strong interest for its digital banking services from potential customers in the continent\u2019s largest economy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":855740,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[961],"tags":[23678],"class_list":["post-864283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-banking","tag-revolut"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=864283"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864283\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":864284,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864283\/revisions\/864284"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/855740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=864283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=864283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=864283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}