Revolut, the London-based financial technology company, said it has applied for a full banking license in Peru, positioning the Andean nation as the firm’s latest entry point in a broader regional expansion. The move represents Revolut’s fifth planned market expansion in Latin America, following previously announced intentions to build a presence in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, and Argentina.
The company, valued at about $75 billion, has framed its expansion strategy around accelerating growth in higher-potential markets while broadening its product suite beyond its core app-based offerings. In announcing the Peruvian filing, Revolut described the license application as part of a longer-term effort to deepen its footprint in economies where digital financial services are expanding rapidly.
Peru has drawn sustained interest from financial firms seeking growth tied to mobile-first consumer behavior and changing expectations around payments, transfers, and everyday banking. Industry participants often point to strong smartphone usage and persistent gaps in traditional banking access as conditions that support app-based entrants, particularly those that can onboard customers quickly and scale with localized products.
Licensing Would Broaden Local Product Range
A full banking license would allow Revolut to expand its offering in Peru over time, moving beyond limited products and introducing a broader, more localized range of services. Revolut said the license would enable it to “gradually introduce” additional products tailored to local needs, reflecting a common pattern among digital financial firms that begin with lighter-touch services and then widen functionality once regulatory permissions are in place.
In practice, full licensing can open the door to a more complete banking model, including locally governed product design, deeper integration with domestic payments infrastructure, and a wider set of consumer financial tools. While Revolut did not outline specific Peruvian product launches in its statement, the company’s framing suggests an incremental approach: establishing regulatory standing first, then expanding capabilities as operations mature.
Peru’s financial inclusion backdrop underscores why digital-first models can attract attention. Research citing Peru’s banking supervisor, the Superintendencia de Banca, Seguros y AFP (SBS), has pointed to continued access gaps—reporting that 38% of adults do not have a savings account, while only 15% have used a digital financial service. At the same time, digital payments have scaled quickly: an OECD note on mobile payment services in Peru said that by 2024, around 17 million users, more than half of the adult population, made payments or transfers through digital wallets.
Strategy Targets 100 Million Customers by 2027
Revolut has tied its expansion drive to a large customer-growth target, aiming to reach 100 million customers by 2027. The company said it already has more than 70 million retail customers globally, a scale that it is now seeking to leverage across multiple new geographies.
The Peruvian license application follows other recent international developments by the company. Revolut recently obtained a crypto license in Cyprus and announced plans to launch a payment platform in India, signaling continued investment in regulated market access and product breadth beyond its historical European base.
By coupling new licenses with market launches, Revolut has positioned itself to compete not only on user experience but also on regulatory capability, an increasingly important differentiator in financial services as supervisors tighten expectations around compliance, safeguards, and consumer protection in digital channels.
Digital Banking Momentum Keeps Latin America in Focus
Revolut’s Peru filing comes as private-sector interest remains strong across Latin America’s digital banking and fintech landscape. The company pointed to conditions that have supported app-based banking growth, including widespread smartphone usage and an underbanked population, which together can create demand for lower-friction financial tools.
The region’s pace of digitization has also been reinforced by expanding everyday use cases, particularly real-time transfers and wallet-based payments, alongside efforts in multiple countries to modernize payment rails and broaden access to formal financial services. For global fintech firms, those trends can reduce the cost of customer acquisition and service delivery compared with branch-led models, while increasing the appeal of localized products such as domestic transfers, bill payments, and budgeting tools.
For Revolut, entering Peru fits a larger pattern: establishing regulatory pathways in key markets, then competing for share as consumers shift more financial activity into mobile channels. With planned rollouts already signaled in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, and Argentina, the company’s Latin America approach suggests it is building a regional footprint designed to scale as digital adoption continues to expand.
