The fintech contender Revolut was initially founded in July 2015 by Nikolay Storonsky and Vlad Yatsenko to primarily act as a low-fee money transfer provider. The duo had been inspired to form the company after becoming frustrated with high money transfer and foreign exchange fees while traveling.

Since its founding less than a decade ago, Revolut has evolved far and beyond its original remit. Whereas it was once predominantly used for sending money overseas, Revolut is fast evolving into a proper digital bank. 

In this post, we will look at Revolut's recent announcement that it intends to enter the bond market.

What Services Does Revolut offer?

As well as continuing to offer low-cost money transfers Revolut offers other financial services such as: 

Multi-Currency Accounts: Revoluts customers can hold and exchange a large number of different currencies from inside the app.

Currency Exchange: Revolut continues to offer currency exchange services at competitive, bank-beating rates.

Debit & Credit Cards: Revolut offers debit cards that can be used globally, often with good exchange rates and lower/zero fees.

Cryptocurrency Exchange: Perhaps controversially, Revolut customers can also exchange, hold, and transfer cryptocurrencies.

In addition to its financial services, Revolut also offers customers other benefits such as budgeting tools, monthly spending round-ups, and notifications all inside a user-friendly app.

Revolut Now Offering Bond Trading

In November 2023, Revolut also announced that it is set to start offering EU-based customers bond trading facilities. By the end of Q1 2024, Revolut hopes to be able to provide its 10 million customers who are residents in EU countries access to American and European government as well as corporate debt bonds.

It is estimated that the bond market is worth more than $120 trillion annually. Despite this, the bond market has historically proved hard to access for many prospective investors but to make it even more accessible, Revolut is set to lower the minimum investment amount to $100.

Revolut has already been offering its 30 million customers stock trading facilities since August 2019. The feature was initially available to customers in the Revolut Metal tier (their premium subscription service) but was later made available to more users, including those on standard plans. The stock trading feature proved a bit as it enabled Revolut users to buy and sell stocks without commission fees.

It seems that Revolut may be seeking to follow the inspiring example set by Wise who recently announced an increase in annual profits of 280%.  Wise’s success is largely down to rising interest rates and them increasingly holding onto customers' funds, rather than simply taking a fee for acting as a transfer facilitator.

Final Thoughts

In conclusion, Revolut's entry into the bond market marks a significant milestone in the company's evolution. The bond market is large and relatively under-served owing to regulatory complexities, and the relatively high cost of entry. 

Of course, it remains to be seen how popular the offering will be, but Revolut is certainly banking on it being a hit.