Revolut has started offering unsecured personal loans in the UK, competing directly with traditional banks. Loans range from £2,000 to £25,000 over one to five years, with an APR between 6.9% and 29.3%. Approved funds usually arrive within minutes. At first the product is available to selected customers who have held a Revolut account for more than 30 days, with a phased rollout over the coming months.

What it means: The move shows where the real profit lies for a digital bank: lending. Payments and cards bring in customers, but interest income is what makes banks profitable. Revolut has a big advantage because it sees customers’ transactions and income in real time, so it can assess credit quickly and approve within minutes. The wide range of rates shows that pricing depends heavily on each customer’s profile. In Greece, Revolut has a large user base and operates under its Lithuanian banking licence, so extending consumer loans to other European markets is a realistic scenario. That would push Greek banks towards faster approvals and clearer terms, especially for small consumer loans. For consumers, convenience should come with attention to the total cost, because a loan approved in minutes is not necessarily cheap. The new EU Consumer Credit Directive will also tighten creditworthiness checks across the Union. Greek lenders that want to compete on speed should start by making their own approval flows fully digital.

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