Revolut has been offering global business current accounts since 2017
The fintech trying to build the world beyond banking has successfully started the process of bringing business accounts into the 21st century. Since 2017 Revolut has been offering global business current accounts for easy international payments, with prepaid business cards and an Open API.
Revolut business account features
- Multi-currency. The accounts support 29 different currencies which you can freely exchange, pay out and receive at the interbank exchange rate. This enables international business partnerships.
- Bulk and scheduled payments. There’s no need to handle every transaction manually. Revolut for business allows you to make up to 1,000 payments with a single click. Regular payments can be automated with a scheduling option.
- Prepaid corporate cards. This business solution enables issuing unlimited corporate cards for “global fee-free spending” that helps to cut business travel expenses. Corporate management gets a convenient dashboard to review employees’ spending and card balances. With this feature each member of your company will have a prepaid account tied to their current account; their manager can manage employees’ expenses, set spending limits and block any lost cards.
- Open API. Revolut Connect allows you to connect and integrate with popular accounting software like XERO and FreeAgent, corporate messengers such as Slack, or Zapier – an automation and integration tool. Open API allows business owners to seamlessly integrate their software with the Revolut business platform.
- Perks. Business account owners may enjoy exclusive discounts and perks from Revolut’s leading partners such as Apple, Google Ads, Amazon, Seedrs, Yulife, etc.
Fees
The banking service has a flexible pricing system where your account plan directly depends on the capital flow. In all the cases, the first 14 days count as a free trial period.
- £25 – monthly fee for those who receive less than £100K of incoming funds per month
- £100 a month – applies if your monthly income ranges from £100K to £1M
- £1000 per month is a fee for those professionals who receive over £1M on a monthly basis
- £6,99 a month – for personal freelance accounts with up to £100K of monthly incoming funds
The account opportunities grow along with your business. You can upgrade your pricing plan at any time by visiting Account Settings on your Business portal. If your incoming transfer goes over the pricing plan thresholds, Revolut will automatically update your plan.
Other related fees include:
- 2% for all ATM withdrawals. If you withdraw cash in foreign currencies, the interbank rates still apply.
- Revolut doesn’t charge any fees to receive money in your account. For GBP and EUR accounts, the amount will be received by Faster Payments and SEPA respectively. This means your bank should charge you nothing (or a very small fee) to transfer to your Revolut account. For all other currencies, the money will be transferred via SWIFT. Your bank may charge you transfer fees.
- Topping up your account by card may trigger additional charges. Depending on the type of card, a fee up to 2% might be applied.
- Revolut does not charge you for transferring money, however, a beneficiary or intermediary bank can still apply a processing fee. If the beneficiary bank is located outside the EU, or transfer is not in Euros, then your transfer will be sent via SWIFT and you might incur international wire transfer fees. The beneficiary bank could also charge a handling fee to receive your transfer. Therefore, the amount received might be less than the amount you sent.
Availability and limitations
Revolut for Business is currently available for companies registered and with a physical presence within the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland. This includes the following countries:
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Jersey, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.
The bank plans to expand its business services soon. You can register your interest to find out when their services will be available in your country. Your application will be added to a prioritized waiting list and, perhaps, hint to the most prospective locations for Revolut business solutions.
Revolut for Business is available for the following types of business:
- Private limited company (LTD)
- Public limited partnership (PLC)
- Limited partnership (LP)
- Limited liability partnership (LLP)
- Sole traders & freelancers
The business accounts currently aren’t available for the following types of business:
- Armaments, nuclear, weapons or defense manufacturers
- Adult entertainment or the sale or advertising of sexual services
- Art dealers and auction houses
- Industrial chemical or legal high companies
- Client money processing firms
- Cryptocurrency processing firms
- FX speculators
- Gambling firms or video game arcades
- Nonprofit, political and religious organizations
- Precious metals and stones firms, including jewelers
- Sale of used cars/heavy industry vehicles
You cannot hold, exchange, transfer or manage client funds in a Revolut business account.
Application
All applications are filled in online. There’s no need to visit any bank branches or prepare loads of paperwork.
To open a Corporate account, you have to provide:
- Your name, address, a photo of your ID and a selfie for a quick identity-check
- Name, address and incorporation details of your business
- A short description of your corporate activities with specified locations
- Basic details about the primary shareholders/directors of your company. They’ll also need to carry out an identity check, or you can submit this on their behalf.
To open a Freelancer account, we will need:
- Your name, address, a photo of your ID and a selfie for a quick identity-check
- A short description of what your business details
In the process of reviewing your application, the company may ask you to confirm or clarify a few details about your business.
About the Revolut
Revolut is a financial technology and digital banking service based out of London, England. The company launched its activities in July 2015.
In December 2018, Revolut got its ECB banking license. It allows offering services typically provided by traditional banks, including full current accounts, consumer and business lending and overdrafts. One of the key benefits of obtaining a banking license was that customer funds became protected under the European Deposit Protection Scheme (EDPS).
The EDPS covers your funds up to the first €100,000 or about £85,000 in the UK.
Their multi-currency global business accounts have been highly praised by customers. Over 70,000 businesses have signed up for their services already, and that number is growing by thousands every week. To put things in perspective, since launching their business line, companies with a Revolut for Business account have collectively saved over $20M that they would have otherwise paid in banking fees – all that in under two years of operation.