How to Open a Business Account With Revolut

Having a business-dedicated account for dealing with business finances may not be obligatory all the time, but it can frequently be useful because of operationally and financially favorable features that it could offer. New Fintech companies like Revolut try to meet every requirement that the entrepreneur may have in regard to the bank account and the payments that would lead to the growth of the business eventually.

Things You Should Know About the Revolut Business Account

Established in 2015 in London, today Revolut serves businesses registered in and with a physical presence within the USA, the UK, the EEA, and Switzerland. This financial service provider also maintains a waiting list for applicants whose countries it will support in the near future.

Once you understand that Revolut exists in our country, and you can supposedly open a business account with it, verify that such a type of account is also available for your form of business entity.

However, Revolut does not offer services to the following types of business:

• Public sector
• Charity
• Private foundation
• Trust
• Cooperative

It is also worth mentioning that the types of enterprises to which this or that service is offered are restricted—for example, it does not offer its services to a great many industries, such as gambling, fine art dealers, adult entertainment, etc., but the list is rather long and can be viewed here.

If you open a Revolut Business account, you will also be given one or several Mastercard or Visa debit cards. Cards have two forms: physical (plastic or metal) and virtual. A physical card contains the company name (up to 25 characters) on the front side and the cardholder’s name on the reverse side along with CVC and expiration date.

Why Choose Revolut

For a number of reasons, Revolut is competitive with traditional banking products and services. You should consider it a less pricey option that comes with a dozen operationally and financially efficient benefits to your business.

The subscription package that you can take will depend on the size and the complexity of your business. You can subscribe to it as a freelancer or as a company. Opt for a free plan, and you will be exempted from paying any monthly fee, where you pay only for what you use. In case of a higher class subscription plan, you will have the opportunity to access features provided only by the business account, including company card with its name on it, as well as higher allowances.

Business Requirements

The basic requirement to open a business account in Revolut is to have a physical presence either in the EEA or Switzerland. To apply for a business account with Revolut, an applying company should be fully incorporated.

If the company is registered in the EEA or Switzerland, it needs to fulfill the following requirements and provide supporting documents to prove:

Reside either in the EEA or Switzerland

One of its directors or beneficial owners should be a permanent resident of the EEA or Switzerland

The address of business operations should be in either the EEA or Switzerland

An applicant is requested to upload the following documents:

A confirmation of the address of business operations: In case a business doesn’t have a registered office, Revolut accepts the owner’s personal address as the address of business operations, whose proof must not be older than three months.

Proof of identity of the shareholders and directors: Under specific circumstances, selfies of the shareholders and directors should be taken via the Revolut webpage or mobile application

Incorporation documents: Proof of authority, in case the applicant is not a director of the company or a shareholder

Since Revolut is only licensed to serve companies which are physically present either in the EEA or Switzerland, they can’t accept addresses of virtual offices, P/O boxes, or similar alternatives.

The applying person shall arrange the proof of authority as follows:

• Invite the company’s director via email to perform full identity verification, which also includes authorization to open and manage a Revolut Business account.
• A Power of Attorney signed by the company’s director and giving the applicant the “consent to open, manage, and reauthorize other users to manage the Revolut Business account” by including this exact statement, along with the information below:
  • The name of the applying company
  • Signatures of the director and beneficial owners or all parties authorized by the company’s by-laws to appoint representatives
  • A date, which is not later than the past three months
  • Apostille (only if the place of issuance isn’t Lithuania)
• The following documents are accepted by Revolut as proof of incorporation:
  • Notarised registry extract
  • Articles of Incorporation
  • Certification of Incorporation
  • Articles of Association
  • Memorandum of Association
  • Audited Annual Report
  • If applicable, a Certificate of Name Change evidencing the date and authority by which the name is changed

Notarisation will only be required where the information cannot be verified by the Revolut team from an independent data source. In the event that an applicant can provide a link to a free governmental source where the document is made available, then the notarisation requirement may be waived.

During onboarding, a company is requested to provide the following information: Description of the business activity, location, and industry. For what purposes the Business Account will be used. Chosen Revolut Business plan. Incorporation details: business name, legal form, trading name, incorporation number, etc. Details about the shareholders and directors of the company.
It accepts documents in any language, although their preference is English. During its review of the documents, an applicant may be asked for more documents to prove or clarify certain information.

A quality application is always successful, but due to the following reasons, rejections are made:

• The type of the applicant’s industry isn’t supported
• Revolut doesn’t support the country where the applicant is registered
• Lack of physical presence
  • Applicant status is inactive in the register
• Legal requirements for company directors and beneficial owners in line with the KYC regulations, hence entails the following information requests, substantiated by the relevant documentation whose object is confirmation of identification:
  • Full name
  • Date of birth, above 18 years
  • Actual place of residence
  • Email
  • Phone
  • Nationality

Note that verification itself doesn’t give access to a Revolut business account. This access needs to be managed by the person applying on behalf of the company, by inviting directors to use and manage the account.

To prove the nature of a startup business that does not have started business activities, you would most probably be asked for the following documents:

• Company registration made within the last three months;
• A proper and clear description of the business activities related to the industry which your company belongs to;
• Business plan, leaflet, or PowerPoint referring to the respective business activities.

How to Open a Business Account with Revolut

Setting up a business account with Revolut includes filling in a short online application form that takes about 10 minutes. The application then goes into the queue for review, maybe with the Revolut team reaching out to the applicant for further information and documents.

In fact, an applicant who fills out the application form duly and transparently can very much fast-track the application and onboarding process. The necessary documents should be updated, provided in due time, and at the right legal juncture for seamless onboarding.

If you are not sure about the manner of provision of information and required documents in the right way to the team at Revolut, our legal team here at Regulated United Europe will be more than happy to take you through the process. We have eight years of experience in helping clients open bank accounts in Europe. We leverage our wide network of reliable partners in the European financial services industry to match the appropriate solutions with value-for-money solutions that enhance the functioning of the businesses we serve.