Revolut gets 76% of its revenue from fees and 22% from interest

Revolut’s annual report backs the core of what its founder told a podcast hosted by a Stripe co-founder this month: revenue comes mostly from fees, lending is small and profit is large. The same filings do not match his daily sign-up figure, and the US bank he describes has only conditional approval, a 2027 launch plan and no retail currency exchange.

Revolut now earns 76% of its revenue from fees, and its loans equal just 6.2% of customer deposits, yet it reported £1.7 billion ($2.3 billion) in pretax profit for 2025. That is an unusual shape for a bank. Interest still supplies 21.6% of revenue, almost as much as card payments at 22.2%, so fee-led is accurate while free of interest is not. The company’s own annual report is the best test of what its executives say in interviews.

The newest example is a 52-minute interview that founder and CEO Nik Storonsky gave to the Cheeky Pint channel, published on 10 November 2026. The host says in it that he co-started Stripe, a company that comes up again below. Storonsky makes four claims worth checking: fees matter more than interest, products live or die by a strict “new bets” test, about 100,000 customers join daily, and a US bank is within reach. The filings support the first two, do not match the third and attach conditions to the fourth.

Fees lead and interest follows close behind

Revolut’s report splits 2025 revenue of £4.5 billion into card payments (22.2%), interest income (21.6%), subscriptions (15.7%), wealth (14.7%) and FX (13.4%), with the rest in other income. Fee-based revenue is 76% of the total, up 4.2 percentage points on 2024. Storonsky’s claim that Revolut does not live on interest margin holds, though narrowly: interest is the second-largest line. A venture-firm analysis of the same report says established banks take 70% or more of revenue from interest.

He also described the top Ultra plan as “about €50” a month. Revolut’s UK help page lists £55 a month or £540 a year on annual billing, with lounge access, insurance and eSIM data included. The gap is small, and Ultra is one of the paid plans behind a subscriptions line that brings in 15.7% of revenue. Revolut says paid-plan adoption rose 42% in 2025.

A lending book that is still small

Loans reached £2.2 billion at the end of 2025, more than double a year earlier, against a £43 billion balance sheet. The loan-to-deposit ratio was 6.2%, and 90% of assets sat in cash and treasury investments such as government debt. That fits what Storonsky said he wants: lending under 10% of the balance sheet, with the rest of any loans securitised. The report does not break down where the 21.6% interest share comes from. Given the asset mix, much of it likely comes from holding deposits rather than lending them, which is an inference, not a disclosed fact.

His argument for staying small is about valuation. He said bank earnings multiples are around 10 times and tech multiples 40 to 50, and compared lending to selling options: steady income for years, then a downturn that erases it. That is his opinion, and it is one the 2026 share price puts under test, as the last section shows.

The new-bets test has no public scorecard

Storonsky described a small team of about ten people, 9 to 18 months to build, a launch in a test country, then a comparison with roughly 100 earlier bets. The top quarter on gross profit gets more staff, the bottom quarter is reassigned. The annual report confirms a New Bets framework built on a venture-capital model and names RevPoints, eSIMs, ATMs, Bill Pay and Business Savings among its products. It says nothing about the quartile rule, the failures or the profit of any single bet.

RevPoints shows the gap. He said its accounting profit is small but its indirect profit is high, and the report says about 17 million customers use it. The one failure he named, Revolut Lite, a Venmo-style transfer product that needed paid marketing, appears only in the interview. The sources reviewed do not document it, so the filter is credible but unaudited.

Sign-up numbers that do not line up

Storonsky said about 100,000 customers now join every day and about 1,500 business customers, with about 30% of the business sign-ups paid for. The annual report gives 16 million new retail customers in 2025, about 44,000 a day, and business customers rising from 578,000 to 767,000, about 520 a day. Both daily figures are this article’s arithmetic from the report. Revolut says it has “over 80 million” customers, against 69.1 million at the end of 2025. If the total sits just above 80 million, that is about 11 million added in 308 days, roughly 35,000 a day. One outlet put the total at 75 million in September.

Gross sign-ups can exceed net growth when accounts close. The report’s 16 million new customers almost equal the 15.8 million rise in the retail base, which leaves little room for that explanation. He also said growth spending began in 2022 and the first seven years were organic. The 2025 report shows marketing spending up 47% that year, 41 above-the-line campaigns and a title sponsorship of the Audi Revolut F1 Team. The venture-firm analysis cites a company report that 65% of new customers came organically or by referral, so about a third did not.

A US bank approved only on paper

On 3 September 2026 the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency gave Revolut conditional approval for a national bank charter, about six months after the March filing. That supports Storonsky’s remark that a licence now takes about a year. It is a first step: the FDIC, the Federal Reserve and a final OCC sign-off are still needed, and Revolut itself plans a 2027 launch. The OCC letter requires at least $95 million paid in to cover pre-opening costs and a tier 1 capital-to-assets ratio of 10% for three years. It also says the approval “does not include the proposed retail foreign exchange business”, the product Revolut began with.

Revolut serves about one million US customers through Lead Bank, so the charter swaps a partner for its own balance sheet. Storonsky wants a credit-card-led offer to rival the Amex Platinum at $895 a year and the Chase Sapphire Reserve at $795. Both rivals bundle lounge networks, hotel credits and dining credits, and whether Revolut can match that list in the US is untested. N26 closed its US accounts in 2022 and Monzo withdrew its charter application in 2021. For a US customer, the bank itself is not due before 2027.

Ties between the host, the sponsor and the stablecoin

The interview includes a Stripe Radar segment, chaptered at 27:39, which says Revolut uses the product. Stripe also owns Bridge, the Luxembourg company that issues Revolut’s euro stablecoin EURR, and Storonsky said the stablecoin technology was built a long time ago. Finance Magnates reported that Bridge’s dashboard showed 374 tokens and €374 in reserves days after the 20 August 2026 launch, against €403.1 million for Circle’s euro token.

The venture-firm analysis comes from two partners at a16z, which Revolut’s report lists among participants in its 2025 share sale. The market-share survey in Revolut’s own report is also a16z’s. Storonsky’s venture firm QuantumLight is a third case. He said it made 40 to 50 deals and ranks among the top 3% to 4% of funds. Dealroom, citing Sifted, counts 27 portfolio companies, five valued above $1 billion, and says the earliest investments are under three years old with returns not yet proven. Deals and companies are not the same count, but no source gives a return figure.

A $115 billion price leaves little room for error

On 4 November 2026 Revolut closed a secondary share sale at a $115 billion valuation, 53% above the $75 billion of November 2025. No new money went in. Tech Funding News works out about 50 times 2025 pretax profit. Storonsky told the host that lending would pull Revolut toward bank multiples, yet investors are paying a tech price for a company seeking a US bank charter. He told Bloomberg in April that a listing is at least two years away and later said it would likely be in the US, according to Tech Funding News.

Bank-style scrutiny is already visible. Italy’s competition authority fined Revolut group companies €11.5 million in April 2026 over commission-free investing claims, account restrictions and an IBAN migration. Revolut says it disagrees and will appeal. The evidence supports the model but not the sign-up pace, and the US bank still needs three more approvals. The number to watch is the loan share once US credit cards launch: if loans climb well above 10% of the balance sheet, his own multiple argument will apply to his company.

Author:
Jan Bielik
CEO & Founder of Webiano Digital & Marketing Agency

This article is an original analysis supported by the sources cited below

Nik Storonsky: The most uncompromising banking CEO
The Cheeky Pint interview published on 10 November 2026, with its chapter list, whose statements on fees, new bets, sign-ups, the US bank, stablecoins and valuation the article tests.

Revolut Group Holdings Ltd Annual Report 2025
Revolut’s own filing, which gives the revenue mix, loan-to-deposit ratio, customer counts, marketing spending, New Bets framework and the investors in the 2025 share sale.

Ultra plan
Revolut’s UK help page, which sets the Ultra price at £55 a month or £540 a year and lists the included benefits.

Revolut wins conditional approval for US bank charter
Trade-press account of the OCC letter, including the $95 million pre-opening capital, the 10% capital ratio and the exclusion of retail foreign exchange.

Revolut Wins Conditional OCC Approval for a US National Bank Charter, With Stablecoins on the 2027 Roadmap
Confirms the remaining FDIC, Federal Reserve and OCC steps, the Lead Bank partnership with about one million US customers and the earlier N26 and Monzo retreats.

The Algorithm That Keeps Compounding
Venture-firm analysis of the 2025 report, used for the interest share of established banks and the 65% organic and referral figure for 2024.

Revolut Launches Euro Stablecoin With Only EUR 374 in Circulation
Shows that Stripe-owned Bridge issues EURR and that its reserves were €374 days after launch, against €403.1 million for Circle’s euro token.

Revolut completes share sale at $115B valuation, led by Glade Brook, Coatue and Durable
Reports the 4 November 2026 secondary sale, the 53% rise from $75 billion, the roughly 50-times-profit multiple and the IPO timing Storonsky gave Bloomberg.

Revolut faces €11.5m penalty over fee claims
Details the April 2026 Italian fine and Revolut’s decision to appeal.

Storonsky’s QuantumLight closes oversubscribed $500M fund to back AI startups
Counts 27 portfolio companies and five unicorns and notes that the firm’s returns are unproven.

AmEx Platinum vs. Chase Sapphire Reserve: It’s Neck and Neck
Gives the $895 and $795 annual fees and the credits and lounge access that Revolut would have to match.

This article was prepared with the assistance of artificial intelligence tools. The content underwent expert human review, and Webiano Digital & Marketing Agency assumes editorial responsibility for its final version and publication.