Banking platform Revolut looks to more than double NZ staff numbers

Global financial service provider Revolut is looking to hire more people in New Zealand as it expands its services to small- and medium-sized businesses.

Revolut's country manager Georgia Grange said Revolut expected to invest a further $120 million to fund its expansion plans over the next five years, which included a December 2024 application to become a registered NZ bank.

The New Zealand company expected to nearly triple staff numbers to about 90 by the end of this year, from 35 currently employed.

"We want to be that one financial platform," Grange said, noting there were 700,000 businesses operating in New Zealand.

New Zealand's retail customers grew 96 percent in the past year, generating more than 6.5m transactions, resulting in 99 percent year-on-year revenue growth.

The B2B fintech's annualised global revenue recently surpassed NZ$1.65 billion with more than 800,000 business clients worldwide.

"Right now, Kiwi businesses are having to log-in and use multiple different providers, depending on what they're doing. We bring it all into the one house."

She said Revolut was focused on help businesses grow and save money.

"For instance, foreign exchange rates, we are typically eight times cheaper than the banks in New Zealand."

She said Revolut offered a range of business services not currently available in New Zealand.

"There's a whole lot of different ways that businesses can manage their money."

She said businesses had a range of options to set different security limits and controls for their business, their staff and their cards.

Grange said a basic monthly subscription fee started at $10 a month and scaled-up to meet the needs of an enterprise-sized service.

She said the services included advanced anti-scam layers to protect businesses.

"We don't just look at financial crime as a compliance hurdle. It's not a regulatory tick the box. (We) also have teams internally that continuously innovate on our financial crime products."

Would-be business customers could open a Revolut account from Tuesday 23 June.