Revolut has received conditional approval from the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to organize a national bank, the first step toward the British fintech accepting American deposits directly rather than routing them through a partner institution. The company announced the decision on September 3. OCC Senior Deputy Comptroller Stephen Lybarger signed the approval, Corporate Decision #1390, on September 2 for Revolut Bank US, National Association, a branchless digital bank to be headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut. Founder and chief executive Nik Storonsky called it an important first step in a statement and on LinkedIn, pointing to the regulatory work still outstanding.
The pace was unusually fast. Revolut filed its de novo charter application with the OCC and the FDIC on March 5, 2026, after abandoning a plan to buy an existing US bank in January and applying for a charter of its own instead. Comparable national charter processes have historically taken one to two years or longer. The OCC received 14 de novo applications in 2025 and has approved at least four by mid-2026, with more than seven still pending.
What still has to happen
The conditional approval does not let Revolut operate as a bank. Three further decisions are required: FDIC approval of deposit insurance, Federal Reserve approval of the holding company structure, and final sign-off from the OCC once organizational conditions are met. Each is a separate review on its own timetable, and none is automatic. Revolut’s US holding company and its UK parent have applied to become bank holding companies, a step required under the Bank Holding Company Act for any entity controlling a national bank.
Revolut must also raise at least $95 million in initial paid-in capital, net of pre-opening expenses, and maintain a tier 1 leverage ratio of at least 10% for its first three years. The approval carries an 18-month clock: if the capital is not raised within 12 months or the bank does not open within 18, it lapses. For comparison, OpenReserve, a charter with heavier digital asset exposure, was required to hold 12% tier 1 capital and capitalize with at least $210 million.
Until then, Revolut’s roughly one million US customers remain served through Lead Bank, an FDIC-insured partner in Kansas City, Missouri. Deposits are insured today through that arrangement, up to $250,000 per account. Nothing changes for customers until the new bank opens.
What the charter unlocks
A national charter would put deposits on Revolut’s own balance sheet and give the bank direct access to Federal Reserve payment rails, Fedwire and ACH, ending dependence on Lead Bank’s processing windows and correspondent fees. The partner arrangement imposes structural costs a chartered bank avoids: pass-through insurance rather than direct coverage, and limited ability to offer credit products nationally. The product list covers checking accounts, installment loans, credit cards and foreign exchange, offered under a single federal framework across all 50 states rather than a state-by-state patchwork of money transmission licenses. Revolut expects to launch in the first half of 2027 with roughly 160 employees.
Digital assets are in the approved suite, but conservatively. Cryptocurrency custody would run through the UK affiliate Revolut Ltd in a nonfiduciary capacity. The bank plans to let customers send remittances using stablecoins, including a Revolut-branded stablecoin issued by a third party. Revolut would not be the issuer and would not hold digital assets on its balance sheet. The OCC’s decision projects digital asset revenue at less than 2% of bank revenue over the first three years.
The retail FX carve-out
The most unusual condition is a formal gate on four product lines: retail foreign exchange trading, FX forward contracts, merchant acquiring, and correspondent banking for unaffiliated foreign banks. Each requires a separate supervisory non-objection before launch. The retail FX restriction is stated separately in the decision’s opening language and requires a dedicated information package under 12 CFR 48.4 before the business can start at all. Tech Times notes the condition distinguishes this charter from every other one the OCC has issued this year.
The carve-out is significant because low-cost currency conversion built Revolut’s original customer base and remains central to its European proposition. The OCC’s letter does not explain the exclusions, but the logic tracks the risk profile of each line. Retail FX and forwards carry market and counterparty risk a bank with no US operating history has not demonstrated it can manage. Merchant acquiring means chargeback exposure across thousands of business customers. Correspondent banking for foreign institutions raises the most sensitive anti-money-laundering questions, since Revolut would process dollar flows for banks it does not supervise in jurisdictions that may have weaker controls.
A crowded charter pipeline
Revolut is not alone. Crypto-adjacent firms including Circle, Ripple, BitGo, Coinbase and Paxos have received conditional approvals or filed applications for national charters, though most pursue narrower trust charters covering custody and tokenization without deposit-taking. World Liberty Financial has also applied. Regulators have approved 21 of 40 de novo charter applications since 2025, a repeatable pathway for fintechs that did not exist five years ago.
For Revolut, the approval follows a full UK banking licence received in March 2026 and comes as the company pushes into lending and credit in its largest markets. The US banking buildout removes the partner-bank friction that has capped its American product range. Storonsky’s framing, that this is a beginning rather than an arrival, is accurate: the FDIC and Fed reviews will determine whether the 2027 target holds, and the four gated product lines mean the bank Revolut eventually opens will look narrower than the company Europeans know.