UK fintech firm Revolut is to become the first tenant at the newly refurbished YY London building in Canary Wharf, significantly expanding its presence in London's financial district. The move is part of the company's accelerated recruitment drive and plans to increase its global headcount to 11,500 by the end of 2024.

Revolut has agreed to sign a 10-year lease for four floors of the YY London building, which was previously occupied by Thomson Reuters, from May 2025 onwards. The new headquarters will have a 40 per cent increase in office space to 113,000 sq ft, compared to the existing headquarters currently located on the outskirts of Canary Wharf.

The new global headquarters will feature the 'Revolut' logo prominently displayed at the top of the building, subject to planning permission. Mock-ups show that one of the four-metre high signs will face the nearby London headquarters of US banks JP Morgan Chase and Morgan Stanley.

Revolut's choice of a new headquarters in the heart of Canary Wharf is seen as a statement of confidence in its home market, where the company has nine million UK customers out of a global customer base of 40 million, and further strengthens the company's commitment to the UK while driving its global expansion.

The expansion is a major boon for Canary Wharf, an area that has been challenged by reduced demand for office space and falling property valuations since the epidemic. The area has also been hit by the planned departure of high-profile tenants such as HSBC and Clifford Chance.

Canary Wharf Group, which is jointly owned by Brookfield and Qatar Investment Authority, is working to revitalise the area and reduce its reliance on office space. The group's CEO, Shobhi Khan, commented that the success of the fintech company is "a testament to the extraordinary environment we have created".

However, Revolut's growth and profitability in the UK has been partly dependent on obtaining a full banking licence, enabling it to offer a wider range of products and services and enhance its lending capabilities.

The company's application for a UK banking licence has been stalled for more than three years due to a variety of issues, including an auditor's warning about revenue verification in its 2021 financial statements.

Last November, Revolut hired Francesca Carles as UK CEO to speed up the process and prepare for obtaining the licence. Carles previously spent around seven years as co-founder and CEO of digital mortgage firm Molo Finance.

Although Revolut has yet to obtain a licence, the company has decided to launch Revolut X, a cryptocurrency exchange for UK customers, aiming to attract more customers.

When it comes to financial reporting, Revolut excels at forecasting, but performs poorly when it comes to releasing actual documents. The company is known for its delays in releasing reports; financials for 2022 were not released until late last year.

Those reports showed the company's 2022 revenue at $1.1 billion, with 2023 revenue expected to reach $2 billion. By 2026, the company plans to generate an additional $370 million in revenue from advertising alone.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)