The European Central Bank placed restrictions on Revolut’s European business last year, citing concerns about risks in its product approval process, according to reports.
The ECB paused permission for the fintech giant to release new products in the European Economic Area last summer until it fixed "deficiencies” in its approval process, people familiar with the matter told the Financial Times.
Revolut was mandated to independently review its risk, compliance and legal functions for its new initiatives approval process in Europe, which is its internal rulebook for new product launches.
The fintech’s European board was informed of the restrictions in July 2025, which also prevented Revolut from acquiring companies or onboarding new customers outside Europe.
A person close to the company told the FT that the digital bank had made improvements to its internal product launch process, with enhanced reviews of new initiatives by internal experts.
“We are in continuous and constructive dialogue with our regulators, including the European Central Bank, as part of our normal course of operations as a fully licensed bank,” a Revolut spokesperson says.
“Revolut is committed to the highest standards of governance and risk management. In line with supervisory expectations, we regularly strengthen our internal control environment and operational processes.”
It is unclear how long the restrictions were in place as Revolut launched teen accounts, mortgages, savings accounts, payment hardware and mobile plans in Europe over the past year.
The digital bank’s product launches are accelerated by its new bets strategy, which is a VC-style framework for Revoluters to rapidly experiment with product ideas using upfront investment from the business.
The fintech’s chief commercial officer David Tirado told Sifted in May that a committee including himself, cofounders Nik Storonsky and now-departed Vlad Yatsenko, general manager Emil Urmanshin and operating partner Mayank Mangal oversees reviews of all new bets pitched, recruitment of teams, performance metrics and scaling requirements.
Revolut faced additional scrutiny from regulators this year as Italy’s competition authority fined the company €11.5m in April due to alleged unfair commercial practices, a decision the digital bank is currently appealing.
Europe’s most valuable fintech has not been alone in its trouble with the regulators. Payments giant Wise is being investigated in Belgium for criminals using its accounts for money laundering and Dutch bank Bunq was fined €170k for failure to promptly respond to fraud complaints.
