Revolut’s strategy could reshape the UK banking market — Freedom

Revolut intends to win corporate clients from the UK’s largest banks, including Barclays (BARC) and HSBC Holdings (HSBA), the Financial Times reported. The company plans to offer its services to businesses included in the FTSE 250 index.

Revolut’s move into servicing large companies could intensify competition in the UK banking market and ускорить its structural changes, says Freedom’s lead analyst Natalia Milchakova. The fintech company’s advantages may include low fees, digital service, and simplified procedures.

Revolut is a UK fintech company that provides banking and payment services via a mobile app. Its clients can open accounts, transfer and exchange money, use payment cards, and manage savings and investments. Revolut shares are not yet publicly traded, so the company has no ticker.

Revolut targets large businesses

The FTSE 250 is a stock index that includes 250 large companies traded on the London Stock Exchange after the 100 most highly capitalized issuers in the UK market. Inclusion in this index usually indicates a significant scale of business.

Revolut’s corporate division plans to increase the number of customers worldwide from the current 800,000 to 1 million by 2027. In 2025, it generated 16% of the company’s total revenue, which reached £4.5 billion. The division’s revenue grew by 53% year on year.

Revolut offers companies the opening and maintenance of current accounts, payments, and corporate debit cards. Such cards are linked to the organization’s account and allow employees to pay business expenses within limits set by the employer.

Until now, the division’s main clients were businesses with a staff of five to 50 employees. Now Revolut expects to work more actively with large organizations. The UK banking license received in March 2026 will allow the company to develop lending products, which are particularly in demand among corporate clients.

Why Revolut’s strategy could prove successful

According to Natalia Milchakova, Revolut has repeatedly managed to attract customers from traditional banks thanks to low fees, new financial products, and fully remote service. Previously, the company’s success was primarily tied to services for individuals, but it is now entering the more complex segment of corporate banking.

The lack of an extensive branch network helps Revolut cut costs. Digital technologies and the внедрение of artificial intelligence make it possible to process transactions faster and simplify customer interactions. As a result, fintech companies can offer businesses lower fees and less bureaucratic procedures.

Natalia Milchakova allows that Revolut’s new strategy will prove successful. Even if the company cannot quickly lure away the largest clients of traditional banks, its expansion could strengthen the role of small fintech firms and young projects in the UK market.

What Barclays is

Barclays (BARC) is one of the UK’s largest banks. It serves individuals and companies, provides loans, processes payments, manages assets, and provides investment banking services. The bank’s shares trade on the London Stock Exchange under the ticker BARC.

Barclays’ strengths remain brand recognition, a broad customer base, and a developed lending infrastructure. However, maintaining a branch network and complex internal procedures can increase costs and slow the rollout of new services compared with digital competitors.

What HSBC is

HSBC Holdings (HSBA) is an international banking group headquartered in London. It provides retail and corporate banking services, finances international trade, and manages client assets. HSBC shares trade on the London Stock Exchange under the ticker HSBA.

One of the bank’s main advantages is its broad presence in Asia and its ability to support international operations of large companies. At the same time, the scale of the business and regulatory requirements make developing new products more costly and time-consuming.

Traditional banks retain important advantages

Despite Revolut’s technological capabilities, the transition of large companies to a new bank can take a significant amount of time. Corporate clients need not only accounts and payment cards, but also large credit lines, trade finance, cash management, and servicing of international operations.

Barclays and HSBC have significant capital, long-standing relationships with large enterprises, and a developed risk management system. Revolut will have to prove that its infrastructure can provide reliable service to organizations with large transaction volumes.

Regulatory requirements may also limit the pace of expansion. The more banking and lending services a company offers, the higher the costs of risk control, customer protection, and legal compliance.

The growth of digital financial platforms is already intensifying competition in the payments segment. Previously, Freedom assessed the prospects for American Express, which combines card issuance, payment processing, and servicing corporate clients. Analysts also looked at the position of the PayPal payment service amid changes in consumer activity. Revolut’s expansion shows that competition between digital platforms and traditional financial institutions is gradually spreading from the retail market to the corporate segment.

Not an individual investment recommendation.