Revolut has applied for a U.S. banking charter and federal deposit insurance, and has appointed Cetin Duransoy its new U.S. CEO, the British neobank said Thursday.
Duransoy joined Revolut in January from fintech marketplace Raisin, where he was CEO for three years, according to his LinkedIn profile. He previously held executive roles at Capital One, Visa and Fundbox.
Duransoy succeeds Sid Jajodia in leading Revolut’s U.S. operations. Jajodia remains at the company as global chief banking officer.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency charter application comes about six months after Jajodia made public Revolut’s intentions to get its hands on a U.S. license.
“Filing for a national bank charter is a major milestone toward our vision of building the world’s first truly global banking platform,” Revolut founder and CEO Nik Storonsky said. “This charter will give us the direct control needed to innovate faster and deliver the Revolut experience to millions more Americans as we move toward our goal of 100 million customers.”
In its charter pursuit, Revolut seeks direct access to the Federal Reserve’s coveted payment rails and new revenue streams like personal loans and credit cards, the company said Thursday, on top of nationwide regulatory consistency and deposit insurance.
In October, Jajodia said a charter would give Revolut “a seat at the table with the regulator.”
“While the partnership model works well, you miss out on things .... When there are issues, you want to be engaging directly with the regulator,” Jajodia said at the time. “That’s a key stakeholder in your ability to run the business.”
The fintech, which counts 70 million users, said in November that it was valued at $75 billion after completing its fifth share sale. The new valuation marked significant growth from the company’s $45 billion valuation 15 months earlier, which came directly after it received its long-awaited British banking license.
Since then, Revolut has entered multiple markets including Mexico and named a chair of its Western Europe arm.
Storonsky called the U.S. a “key pillar of our global growth strategy.”
Revolut’s application adds to a growing stack of new-bank applications at the OCC. Eighteen applications were filed with the regulator last year and several more have followed in 2026.
The agency is handling the swell of applications by pulling talent from the supervision side into one- or two-year rotations in the OCC’s chartering arm, Comptroller Jonathan Gould said in a recent interview.
Several firms have landed conditional charters amid the swell, and one, Erebor Bank, is already operating with a full charter.
