BI Intelligence This story was delivered to BI Intelligence " Fintech Briefing " subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here . London-based travel money app Revolut has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Bank of Lithuania (the country’s central bank). This is the first step toward Revolut getting a banking license — and ultimately access to the central bank’s payments system, according to Banking Technology . Getting access to a central bank’s payments system will make it easier for Revolut to process payments. At the moment, Revolut has to rely on bank partners to process cross-border transactions conducted through its platform across the Eurozone. But if it gains direct access to an EU central bank, this will eliminate the need for such intermediaries, allowing it to handle more transactions in less time. It would also no longer have to pay any fees charged by its banking partners, and be protected from any disruptions in their service. This direct access will greatly help Revolut as it expands its offerings. Revolut recently announced that it is launching a version of its service for businesses. Businesses typically conduct more transactions, with much larger volumes than consumers. With direct access to a payments system in the Eurozone, Revolut will be able to better handle the increase in transactions, and more easily scale its business across the EU. Partnerships such as the one between Revolut and Lithuania’s central bank are evidence that we’ve entered the most profound era of change for financial services companies since the 1970s brought us index mutual funds, discount brokers and ATMs. No firm is immune from the coming disruption and every company must have a strategy to harness the powerful advantages of the new fintech revolution. The battle already underway will create surprising winners and stunned […]
