Revolut offers a deposit, but it remains outside the protective umbrella of the Hungarian deposit guarantee

By: Trademagazin Date: 2024. 03. 06. 08:17

Revolut Bank, based in Lithuania and operating as a cross-border service provider in Hungary, has started actively collecting deposits, but it still does not apply for a Hungarian subsidiary bank license, and thus does not join the domestic deposit insurance system. The bank’s domestic customers can still handle their settlement or fraud disputes abroad, in Lithuanian or English, the Magyar Nemzeti Bank (MNB) has repeatedly pointed out.

A solution to all of this would be if Revolut operated as a domestic subsidiary bank, with its headquarters in Hungary, with sufficient capital, and with the OBA’s deposit guarantee – they added.

According to the February 2024 announcement of the Lithuanian Revolut Bank UAB, it will henceforth offer its Hungarian customers a forint-based deposit with different interest rates depending on the fee package. The company (which already obtained a deposit collection license valid for Hungary years ago in Lithuania) has therefore actually started active deposit collection in Hungary this year.

In addition to its current business move, there has still been no change in the legal status of Revolut Bank, i.e. it has not started its branch operations, in Hungary it continues to offer electronic payment services and now also deposits as a cross-border institution. This means that it is not the MNB, but rather the EU member state that authorizes its activities according to its seat, i.e. the Central Bank of Lithuania, that supervises compliance with consumer protection regulations, while – considering the size of the institution – its business reliability will be checked by the European Central Bank from January 1, 2024 – he explained the MNB.