45 million clients in Europe, a valuation of $75 billion, record profit of $2.3 billion in 2025 — and at the same time, a ban from the EU's chief banking regulator on launching anything new. The Financial Times was first to report on the temporary restrictions imposed on Revolut Bank UAB.
What exactly was banned
In July 2025, the European Central Bank informed the board of directors of Revolut's European subsidiary about a package of restrictions. The Lithuanian banking subsidiary of the company — Revolut Bank UAB, which received a license from the Bank of Lithuania back in 2018 and is the only legal channel for operating in the EEA — temporarily lost the right to launch new financial products on the market. The pause was imposed until the company eliminated "deficiencies" in risk management systems, compliance, and legal support.
In addition to the ban on new products, the ECB required the company to conduct an independent audit of product approval processes and to verify the staffing and competence of relevant departments. According to FT sources, the regulator was concerned that Revolut employees were being encouraged to bring solutions to market as quickly as possible — without sufficient risk checks.
"Self-guided missiles" — that is how, according to FT, ECB employees informally described Revolut's approach to product development.
Financial Times, citing informed sources
Not the first warning
This is not the first warning from Frankfurt. Back in July 2024, the ECB had already identified "deficiencies" in systems for combating financial crime and corporate governance at Revolut's European office. The company's response at that time proved insufficient — which is why in 2025 they moved to concrete restrictions rather than just recommendations.
The chronology is telling: the restrictions were announced in July 2025, and in November of the same year Revolut completed a secondary share sale that valued the company at $75 billion. Among the new investors are Andreessen Horowitz, Coatue, Dragoneer, and Nvidia's venture capital division. In other words, regulatory pressure and record market valuation existed simultaneously.
What was done about it
A source close to the company told FT that after last summer, Revolut strengthened its internal product launch procedures: new initiatives now undergo enhanced review by relevant specialists. Despite the restrictions, the company still managed to launch mortgage products and accounts for teenagers in several European countries during this period, as well as open its first physical branch in Barcelona. FT was unable to determine whether all restrictions have been lifted to date.
For Ukrainian users, this situation has direct context: in April 2025, Revolut suspended registration of new clients from Ukraine, and later announced a complete market exit — due to the absence of a local license and currency restrictions imposed by the National Bank of Ukraine. In other words, the company was losing positions in one market while facing regulatory pressure in another.
A structural problem, not a one-time failure
According to FinTech Weekly analysts, the products that Revolut is targeting — mortgages, consumer lending, business loans — "are at the center of traditional banks' income models and require regulatory approval and a reliable risk management system." In other words, this is not a question of speed, but a question of infrastructure of trust.
A telling detail from the financial statements: in 2025, Revolut more than doubled its credit portfolio — to £2.2 billion. At the same time, CFO Viktor Stinga publicly acknowledged that the company's mortgage business remains "in its infancy," and expansion into other markets is "a matter of years, not months."
If the independent audit mandated by the ECB reveals systemic gaps rather than cosmetic failures — the regulator's next step could be not a temporary pause, but requirements for capital increases or personal accountability for the management of the Lithuanian structure. This will determine whether the current "pause" is an episode in a growth story, or the first chapter of a more complex narrative.
