One of the most notable news in Ukraine’s fintech space in 2025 was the official launch of the Revolut international payment service., The expansion of a major global brand to Ukraine during wartime sends a powerful signal to potential investors: this market is still open for business. However, Revolut’s rollout has been far from smooth. The company has yet to obtain a local banking licence and has paused the onboarding of new customers.
So what went wrong? And why doesn’t a launch guarantee competitive success? Ukrainian fintech entrepreneur Artsiom Liashanau explores this in his latest column – here are the key takeaways from it.
A limited launch happened earlier – with missing features
As Artsiom Liashanau explains, Revolut’s actual debut in Ukraine happened back in 2022, shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion – but only for Ukrainians who had fled from war to the EU.
«Revolut opened registration for Ukrainian users displaced to the EU, simplifying access to multi-currency accounts. But in practice, the launch was limited — users couldn’t send direct transfers back to Ukraine,» – notes Liashanau.
Quick note: Revolut operates under two European licences:
- Revolut Bank UAB (Lithuania) for the EU market;
- Electronic Money Institution in the United Kingdom.
Crucially, Revolut doesn’t hold a banking licence in Ukraine – which means it can’t offer its full suite of services locally.
Ukraine national bank licence is mandatory
Following the official launch, Ukraine’s central bank made its stance clear: full operations without a local licence are off the table.
Artsiom Liashanau points out that Revolut’s workaround – opening accounts for Ukrainian passport holders in 2022 – doesn’t exempt it from regulatory requirements:
«There was no wording like ‘illegal activity’ in the NBU’s statement — that interpretation came from the media. What the bank actually said was that Revolut isn’t violating the law, but it also can’t roll out full banking or payment infrastructure in Ukraine without meeting national legal requirements. In short: the regulator isn’t blocking Revolut, but it won’t change the rules just for them. Everyone plays by the same game», – he writes.
Ukraine already has a modern financial infrastructure
Over the past decade, Ukraine has become one of the most intensive countries in cases of launching and scaling fintech services to millions of users. That’s why Revolut’s arrival didn’t feel revolutionary. It felt overdue.
«Revolut offers access to the European financial ecosystem for Ukrainians – without going to the branch, without the paperwork of traditional EU banks. Just from your smartphone, likely the same one you’re using to read this article. 1 000 000+ Ukrainians ended up in EU countries, looking for simple, intuitive financial tool: multi-currency accounts, SEPA/IBAN transfers, currency conversion without brutal fees. In short, they were looking for the same quality of service they were used to back home», – Artsiom Liashanau explains.
Still, despite local fintech apps now offering IBANs, SWIFT/SEPA transfers, and multicurrency cards, none can fully replace Revolut. It’s a global product – and a global product doesn’t lose to a local one by default.
But will Revolut become a game-changer in Ukraine? It could have – but the timing just wasn’t right.
