Just over a year after announcing Glauber Mota as head of its operations in Brazil, the British fintech Revolut is finally launching its app on a waiting list basis.
In an interview with The Brazilian Report at the Web Summit Rio, Mr. Mota (the former executive responsible for creating the digital banking arm of BTG Pactual, one of the leading investment banks in Brazil) did not disclose the number of customers interested in using Revolut but said that “thousands will gain access to the app every week” and that it might take some time to clear the waiting list.
With nearly 29 million customers across Europe, Australia, Singapore, and Japan, Revolut is taking its first step in Latin America. It is also exploring the Mexican market and targeting a more aggressive expansion in the U.S., but given the market size, Brazil will likely become one of the company’s primary operations.
With aspirations of becoming a super-app, Revolut offers a wide range of products and services worldwide. For its debut in Brazil, it chose to start with an offering that not all its competitors have: a multicurrency account and investments in crypto assets.
“Brazilians are still relatively underserved in cross-border transactions, and we want to make this faster, simpler, and cheaper,” says Mr. Mota, adding that buying dollars through its app can be 3 to 10 percent cheaper than the traditional way, which is topping up an international debit card or using an international credit card. That is possible because the fintech spread is no more than 2 percent, and the conversion rate is the commercial dollar, not tourism.
Brazilian multi-currency accounts are limited to USD 27,000 monthly; a 0.5 percent fee will be charged above that.
Awaiting a direct credit society (SCD) license since last year, Revolut is debuting through alliances. It is using Bexs’ banking as a service infrastructure and offering its prepaid cards with a Visa flag — in the future, there will also be an agreement with Mastercard.
Once it receives the green light to operate as an SCD, Revolut will be able to expand its portfolio and offer a digital account with more payment and transfer options.
Currently, users can make purchases through their prepaid card, Google Pay, Apple Pay, and PIX, Brazil’s instant payment system, in addition to making immediate transfers to other Revolut customers in 150 countries and converting the Brazilian real to U.S. dollars and then to another 27 currencies and 90 crypto tokens.
“These functionalities are particularly interesting for people that travel a lot, work abroad, and receive payments in other currencies or even want to save money and have a small part of it in stronger currencies,” Mr. Mota says.
Revolut does not rule out the possibility that the group might also seek a DTVM license — as it is doing in Mexico — if it makes sense to expand the offer in the investment area. With an SCD authorization, companies may also enter the lending market.
The current multi-currency account also has a savings function, which allows users to separate money for specific purposes, including those with contributions from other users. “When the person travels in a group, for example, we have a function to divide account amounts,” Mr. Mota explains.
Regarding crypto assets, Revolut’s app works almost like a mini “home broker,” with automatic purchase orders, recurring contributions, and other functions, as well as offering educational courses, with prizes for users completing steps and passing the tests. The reward will be in the form of the Polkadot token, but eventually, other crypto assets may be added. Brazil has more than 10 million individuals investing in crypto.
According to Mr. Mota, Revolut has about 50 employees in Brazil. More than half of them are dedicated to customer service; they were trained in the fintech’s global network, serving international customers in English, and will now serve Brazilians.
“Our technology, design, and operations team also serves other regions. Brazilian professionals are attracting the company’s attention internally, and we decided to create a technology hub in Brazil to serve other countries in Latin America as the fintech expands,” says Mr. Mota.
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