The news: UK-based neobank Revolut has achieved two new steps in its global growth plan: acquiring a Cyprus crypto license, which allows it to offer crypto services across Europe, and getting approval for its Mexican banking license. It ultimately intends to acquire a licensed bank in the US.

More on this: Revolut’s ambitious global expansion has already brought it to 160 countries, and it has committed $13 billion to pursue 30 new markets by 2030—$500 million of which is intended for the US. In addition to the licenses in Cyprus and Mexico, Revolut has made recent moves in Argentina, the Middle East, and India.

The threat: Revolut is enormous by any measure. It reported $4 billion in revenues in 2024, on top of $1.3 trillion in transaction revenues driven by its 52.5 million users at the time. Direct competitors in the US pale in comparison: Chime, the country’s largest neobank, reported $1.6 billion in revenues for 2024 and 8.6 million users.

Revolut’s potential US entry is just the latest international threat: Brazil-based neobank applied to the OCC for a national bank charter earlier this month. It reported $11.5 billion in revenues in 2024, more than twice Revolut’s revenues for the same period. 

Our take: Large neobanks—hardly “neo” anymore given their size—have the scale and resources to pose a credible threat to US financial institutions (FIs). Traditional megabanks have the capacity to fight back and other lines of business to depend on, but FIs that focus only on consumers and small businesses could be in trouble.

Neobank “super apps” offer huge suites of financial products and services, including global transfers. If they reach the right segments, they could pull more customers away from smaller FIs—particularly Gen Zers (Revolut’s focus) and Latin American consumers (Nubank’s core market).