FinTech Startup Revolut Says Goodbye To Canada

British FinTech company Revolut announced this week it would suspend its Canadian operations, 18 months after launching a beta version of its platform in that country.

According to BetaKit, which monitors Canadian startup and tech news, Revolut made the announcement on Twitter and in an email to users on Monday.

“This has been a difficult decision, but we’ll do everything we can to make this process as smooth as possible for you,” the email said. “We really appreciate your support and trust as we work on our global expansion and we hope to be able to return to Canada in the future.”

Serving 15 million-plus customers in more than 30 countries, Revolut is a challenger bank offering traditional banking services — debit cards, currency exchange, stock trading — along with a cryptocurrency exchange.

Revolut has operations throughout Europe, as well as Japan, Australia and the U.S., expanding as more and more customers embraced digital banking during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In January, PYMNTS reported that Revolut was seeking a banking license in the U.K. that would let it develop a “financial super app.”

But as BetaKit noted, Canada presented a challenge.

“Banking licenses in Canada are notoriously difficult for newcomer financial service providers to obtain,” BetaKit’s Meagan Simpson writes. “The Canadian banking market is an oligarchy of five or six main banks. This, in addition to unfavourable regulations, makes it harder for local challenger-bank style startups as well, such as Koho. Revolut was seen as a competitor to companies like Toronto-based Koho.”

In a statement on Twitter, Revolut said that it had “hoped to be able to bring Canada the full Revolut service but that is not possible at the moment. We think it’s in the best interests of our customers to pause for now and we hope in the future we’ll be able to return to Canada when we can offer the full suite of Revolut services.”