British Fintech Company Revolut Launches Its Digital Banking App in Japan

| Updated
by Steve Muchoki · 3 min read
British Fintech Company Revolut Launches Its Digital Banking App in Japan
Photo: Shutterstock

After successfully testing its digital banking application in Japan with 10,000 customers, Revolut has finally launched its services in the country. However, features like crypto purchase and stock trading will be added later.

Leading UK financial technology company Revolut has extended its services to customers in Japan. According to the company, it has launched the application after testing the service with 10,000 users, whereby anybody can now sign up and open an account. However, due to perhaps unavoidable circumstances, the company will not be offering cryptocurrency purchases, stock trading among others until further notice.

Notably, this is the first market venture of the company outside English dominated markets. For customers in the given jurisdictions, they will now be capable of performing international transfers and managing money in 23 currencies.

With the market already heavily dominated by other fintech companies offering similar services, Revolut knows it has to offer better services to place it on a vantage point over its competitors.

Revolut in Japan

The company identified a niche and a gap and is promising its customers to fill it diligently. “Foreign finance apps are specialized, but Revolut will offer them all in one app,” said Haegwan Kim, head of growth at the Japanese unit.

One of its expected big-time competitors will be SoftBank Group-backed PayPay that has been reported to have heavily invested in its market strategy to win over customers’ attention. Apparently, it has managed to kick out a number of startups from the industry while others have been wholly acquired.

Recently, the company revealed that it has over 13 million customers globally. Most of its customers are from the United States, Australia, Singapore and also Europe.

The company has been pushing to win global customers amid heightened demand in digital transactions brought about by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

It originally obtained the authorization to operate from Japan’s Finance Service Agency back in 2018. The company has already launched premium plans in Japan, whereby the customers will enjoy lower fees on foreign exchange, different card designs, better support and the ability to buy airport lounge access with LoungeKey Pass.

Among the interesting features will be the fact that users in Japan will be able to create vaults to enable them to put money aside by rounding up transactions and creating recurring transactions.

On the Flipside

Having been in the global market in the past six years through 2020, and also having managed to win customers in the ever-increasing competitive market is an indicator the company is destined to win more.

Back in April 2018, Revolut announced that it had raised $250 million in a funding round led by Hong Kong-based DST Global, reaching a total valuation of $1.8 billion and thus becoming a unicorn.

Earlier this year, the company completed a funding round that more than tripled its value, valuing the company at £4.2 billion and becoming the United Kingdom’s most valuable financial technology startup

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