David Tirado, Revolut’s VP of Profitability and Global Business, explains how a digital-only approach facilitates localized international expansion.
Global Finance: What’s the next major shift in customer expectations for digital banking?
David Tirado: The next major shift will be about moving beyond just a wallet. Customers expect their digital bank to be the primary hub for their entire financial lives. This means providing a single, comprehensive platform that handles everything from daily payments, investments, savings and FX to mobile plans, eSims and even insurance.
Our challenge is that this looks different in every market. Revolut is preparing to meet this by building a truly global platform that can localize effectively, ensuring our products feel native to our consumers. We’ve established digital branches across key regions to deliver solutions that have a global reach with a personal touch.
GF: What’s your roadmap for becoming a “super-app”?
Tirado: Our roadmap is designed around our customers’ ambitions, providing them with a slick platform that consolidates all aspects of their financial lives into one seamless experience. Expansion is a key element of our roadmap. Revolut continues to expand at pace, and in
2024, we submitted over 10 new license applications and made significant progress on our ongoing applications. We launched a local direct credit society (SCD) in Brazil and obtained a banking licence in Mexico. In newer markets we expanded our core product range, with Revolut Business introduced in Singapore, and less than 18 launched in Japan. This momentum has continued into 2025, and in April, Revolut received full authorization from the Reserve Bank of India to issue Prepaid Payment Instruments in India, including prepaid cards and prepaid wallets with UPI payments.
Our long-term objective is to expand internationally and become one of the top three financial apps in all markets we enter. We will do this by developing customer-centric solutions that solve problems and add value at scale. Going the extra mile to understand customer needs, challenges, and aspirations, is how we deliver products and experiences that people love to use.
GF: With traditional banks investing in their own digital platforms, how will digital-first players like Revolut differentiate themselves?
Tirado: Legacy banks are working with legacy systems. Revolut, on the other hand, built our proprietary technology from the ground up with a global mindset. While competitors struggle to scale across different markets and regulatory landscapes, our systems were designed for this from day one. This unique advantage allows us to challenge incumbents in every market we enter, offering a truly global bank that legacy systems cannot match.
In 2024 alone, we onboarded nearly 15 million customers globally, and as a licensed European bank and Europe’s most valuable private tech company, Revolut is valued at $45 billion.
Beyond Europe, we received banking authorization in Mexico in 2024 and continue to drive ambitious license applications across the globe, including in India, New Zealand, Colombia, Brazil and Argentina. Our global licensing strategy is designed to provide localized, compliant, and innovative financial services to customers worldwide. This, combined with our ability to move fast and disrupt on a global scale, is our core differentiator.
GF: How do you keep Revolut’s expanding suite of services intuitive and easy to navigate, without overwhelming users?Tirado: Our core challenge is to manage complexity while delivering simplicity. Revolut is built on customer-first principles to ensure a superior experience. We ensure our wide range of services remains intuitive by building a unified ecosystem. When you open the app, you’re not navigating a disparate collection of products; you’re moving fluidly between different parts of your financial life. We provide a tailored experience through data-driven insights, empowering customers to make smarter decisions. The user journey should be frictionless and natural, and we are committed to providing a stable and secure platform that is available to our customers 24/7, wherever they are.
