Yahoo Finance Revolut CEO eyes expansion to 5,000 people by summer 2020
The CEO of Revolut, the British “unicorn” fintech startup, said on Monday that he expected the company’s headcount to more than treble by summer 2020.
In an interview with Reuters, CEO and founder Nikolay Storonsky said Revolut planned to expand its 1,500-strong workforce to around 5,000 people by the middle of next year.
“We are around 1,500 people now and by summer next year we plan to be around 5,000,” he said.
Revolut declined to confirm the expansion to Yahoo Finance UK. Storonsky’s comments came just after the fintech startup said that a new agreement with Visa (V) would allow it to expand to 24 markets.
Revolut, which mainly issues Mastercard debit cards, will now begin primarily issuing Visa-branded cards.
“Leveraging Visa’s brand, scale and global acceptance footprint, Revolut will be able to bring its product offerings to five new regions, reaching 24 new markets for a total of 56 markets globally,” the company said in a statement.
Revolut said that the partnership enabled it to launch in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, and the US initially, followed by a series of countries that includes Argentina, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa.
READ MORE: Fintech startup Revolut launches stock trading service
The company, one of the hottest digital challenger banks, has had a partnership with Visa for the past four years, and first began issuing Visa cards to European customers in July 2017.
“Revolut has made great strides in delivering innovative and unique experiences to consumers in Europe,” said Jack Forestell, chief product officer of Visa, in a statement.
“We are thrilled to extend our relationship as Revolut looks to achieve their global growth ambitions and collectively drive increased volume on the Visa network.”
Last month, Revolut launched a commission-free stock trading service in the UK and Europe.
The service allow its “Metal” customers, who pay £13 a month, to make up to 100 instant free trades in over 300 stocks listed on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq.
It has also recently been rolled out to premium subscribers.
In July, the bank said that Metro Bank (MTRO.L) executive David MacLean would join the company as its new chief financial officer.
The bank has been hiring executives with more traditional retail banking experience in the wake of criticism of its work culture and the systems it uses for flagging suspect payments.
