Revolut Drops US Bank Buyout Plan, Eyes Fresh OCC License

Key Highlights:

• Revolut scraps plans of acquiring US bank as per report by Financial Times.
• The company is planning to file a new, federally chartered US bank license as the approval might come sooner.
• Revolut says it is still exploring options as informed to Reuters.

Revolut is a fintech company based in the UK that has abandoned plans to acquire a US bank and it has been reported by Financial Times today, January 23, 2026, that it will now directly apply for a US banking license. The main reason behind this switch is to try for faster bank approval in the US, as the rules may be more relaxed right now.

This move also indicates that the company wants to grow itself in the US market as the company is facing strict licensing hurdles in other countries.

Acquisition Plans Scrapped

If the company would have moved forward with this decision then it would have offered loans to more than 50 states under a single federal setup. But after looking at the processes and requirements, the company had a feeling that acquisition could make things messy and US regulators may expect things such as maintaining physical branches and other mandatory requirements.

The entire process of change in the ownership is something that needs meticulous details to be taken care of and this could have slowed the entire process as well. Also, the fintech company did not publicly confirm which bank it was taking over.

Nothing Finalized Yet

When Reuters reached out to Revolut’s for response to the report, Revolut told Reuters it continues to actively explore all options, including a de novo bank licence application in the US.

“The U.S. market is critical for Revolut’s global growth strategy and out long-term plan is to establish a bank in the U.S.,” Revolut said in an emailed statement to Reuters. The statement clearly indicates that nothing is final yet and the decision might change as well.

Regulatory Optimism

It is being said that OCC (Office of the Comptroller of the Currency) approval for a new, federally chartered US bank license could come faster under the Trump administration as he wants US to become the crypto capital of the planet.

There has been an increase in de novo applications in the recent times but the outcome is not yet guaranteed, and Revolut’s success remains uncertain.

Broader Context and History

The UK based company has been trying to grow its wings in the US market since 2020, but it has ever since experienced set backs, like in 2021, licensing pushed down and it paused some crypto services in 2023.

In the UK, the company received only a restricted licence in 2024 after years of delays over risk and control issues. This just indicates how difficult and slow banking approvals are in the first place.

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