At home, 13 out of 100 cards are Revolut?

By: Trademagazin Date: 2024. 10. 09. 10:59

Revolut neobank is becoming an increasingly important player in Hungary, where it now serves 1.5 million customers. This number represents 13% of the domestic bank card market, which clearly shows the growth in demand for digital banks. While the number of bank cards issued on the Hungarian market has been around 10 million for years, Revolut has expanded its base with 1 million new customers in the last three years, and in the last year it acquired more than half a million customers. Despite this, the turnover of Revolut is not reflected in the statistics of the Hungarian National Bank (MNB), since the service provider is present in Hungary as a foreign issuer.

According to Stefan Bogucki, Revolut’s regional PR manager, the majority of customers already use Revolut as their primary bank account, and in Hungary it is becoming increasingly common for people to request their payments to Revolut accounts. According to the company’s data, in 2023, 75% of spending initiated with Revolut cards were domestic transactions. At the same time, the turnover of foreign-issued cards increased by 12.7% year-on-year, while the value showed an increase of 15.5%, which represented a turnover of HUF 370 billion during the second quarter. Revolut’s cards are used by many Hungarian users for online purchases and spending abroad, so these transactions are statistically not shown in their entirety at Hungarian banks.

Revolut’s domestic presence may increase if the company opens a branch office in Hungary as planned, after which the company will also be obliged to pay a transaction fee according to Hungarian rules. According to Revolut’s data, it has so far paid tens of billions of forints to the Hungarian budget in the form of transaction fees, which, based on the number of customers, could mean a flat fee of 750 million forints per year. If Revolut opens a branch, the MNB hopes that more accurate statistics will be available, as transactions and money movements will be better tracked. According to the MNB and the Ministry of Finance, internal money transfers between Revolut customers will officially appear in the statistics as account transactions, so all such operations are considered payment operations and subject to transaction tax.

The presence of Revolut as a branch also gives the opportunity for Hungarian customers’ accounts to become visible in the domestic system, and at the same time ensures that the company fulfills its tax and duty payment obligations according to domestic regulations. However, it is also questionable whether Revolut will transfer all customers to the new branch, or whether the background related to Lithuania will remain, which could complicate transparency.