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London-based fintech firm Revolut has applied for a full banking licence in the US to strengthen its global portfolio of financial licences. The English fintech company already has a banking licence in the European Union and had applied for one in the home country in January after Brexit. The firm provides a single app for its customers to swiftly manage their daily finances.
The fintech firm has filed a draft application for a banking licence in California, which would help its expansion across all the 50 states in the US.
As of now, the company, valued at US$5.5 billion, is not listed on any stock exchange. However, it is planning to go public in the US via an IPO, said CEO and co-founder Nik Storonsky.
Expansion spree
Revolut has expanded its services in 10 more European countries in March with guaranteed deposit accounts. These include Croatia, Estonia, Bulgaria, Greece, Cyprus, Malta, Latvia, Romania, Slovenia, and Slovakia. Last year, the firm launched its banking services across Poland and Lithuania.
Virgilijus Mirkės, CEO of Revolut Bank, said that his firm was the fastest growing fintech company in Europe, where they have prioritised the needs of customers.
British fintech space
Expanding at a rapid pace, the UK fintech sector managed to attract £3 billion investment in 2020, the highest amount in Europe, according to a report by Innovate Finance, the industry association representing British global FinTech community. The sector employs more than 61,000 heads in the UK, according to E&Y estimates.
As per industry estimates, the fintech adoption rate in the country is 71 per cent, much above the global average of 64 per cent, making it one of the best locations for financial technology firms.
The sector presents immense opportunities for growth as increased digital adoption, led by the pandemic is rapidly changing consumer habits, thereby driving the fintech revolution.
Let us now take a closer look at three leading fintech stocks listed on the London Stock Exchange - IntegraFin Holdings Plc (LON:IHP), Argo Blockchain Plc (LON: ARB) and Alfa Financial Software Holdings Plc (LON:ALFA).
IntegraFin Holdings Plc (LON:IHP)
IntegraFin (LON:IHP) is an investment wrap platform provider for the British intermediary market. The company’s pre-tax profits slipped to £52.2 million for the financial year ending 30 September 2020 (FY19: £57 million). Funds on its investment platform rose 9 per cent to £41.1 billion for the year. The dividend for FY20 increased to 8.3p per share from 7.8p in FY19.
Alex Scott, CEO of Integrafin, said that given the uncertain circumstances over the second half of FY20, the company was happy to deliver a robust set of results.
The company shares fell 0.20 per cent to GBX 508.00 on 23 March at 11.05 AM against the previous day’s closing price on the LSE.
Argo Blockchain Plc (LON:ARB)
Argo Blockchain Plc is a blockchain technology company specialising in large-scale cryptocurrency mining operations. It runs a mining infrastructure to aid the functioning of blockchain networks.
The cryptocurrency miner signed a commercial supply and collaboration deal with ePIC Blockchain Technologies last month. Under the deal, it is slated to receive priority access to ePIC's ASIC mining machines.
The company shares (LON: ARB) was trading at GBX 233.00 on Monday, 22 March, down 4.29 per cent from its previous day’s close.
Alfa Financial Software Holdings Plc (LON:ALFA)
Alfa Financial Software develops software for the asset finance industry. It published its audited results today on 23 March for FY20. Its profit before tax jumped 78 per cent to £23.2 million for the financial year ending 31 December 2020 (FY19: £13.0). The firm’s earnings per share almost doubled to 6.93p for 2020 from 3.50p for the previous year.
The company shares jumped 1.77 per cent to GBX 138.40 in the early morning trade on Tuesday, 23 March, at 8.47 AM.
