SINGAPORE: Global fintech firm Revolut reported a record profit of US$545 million (S$739 million), with revenue almost doubling to US$2.2 billion in 2023, the company announced on Tuesday (Jul 2).
Net profit for last year soared to US$428 million, a whopping 6,000 per cent increase from the US$7 million it made in 2022.
Revolut operates a multi-currency e-wallet for payments and remittances. Users can also trade stocks, exchange-traded funds, commodities and crypto.
Its chief financial officer Victor Stinga told CNA in an interview on Monday that the three drivers of its revenue were customer growth, strong performances in its products and improved interest income.
In terms of profitability, gross margin – the percentage of a company’s revenue that remains after direct expenses are subtracted – increased from 70 per cent to 76 per cent.
“We always exercise what we call a zero-base budgeting philosophy, so we need to justify every single expense,” said Mr Stinga.
Excluding the cost of advertising and marketing, expenses increased only by 29 per cent last year – compared with a 95 per cent increase in revenue, he said.
“We take it as a good sign of the efficiency that this business can scale fast without scaling your expense base,” he added.
The boost in travel after the COVID-19 pandemic increased demand for Revolut’s services in Singapore, said Mr Matt Baxby, the company’s Asia-Pacific CEO.
“Following the pandemic, 2023 saw a strong rebound in travel worldwide. Revolut’s cross-border transaction data shows that Singaporeans not only travelled frequently in 2023, but also to many different destinations,” he said.
According to the International Air Transport Association, air traffic last year reached 94.1 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.
Last year, another multi-currency e-wallet operator, YouTrip, said travel propelled its growth after the pandemic.
GROWING NUMBER OF CUSTOMERS
Revolut had 45 million customers globally as of June, the company announced. Of these, 7 million started using its products this year.
For the full year of 2023, Revolut added 12 million customers.
“The company is on track to surpass 50 million customers by the end of FY24,” it added in a press release.
The number of Revolut customers in Singapore grew by nearly 77 per cent from 2022, with monthly active users increasing as well.
More than half of Singapore users are between the ages of 18 and 34. The biggest growth in users is among 18- to 24-year-olds.
Revolut declined to give the exact number of customers it has in Singapore, but said that it has “more than hundreds of thousands of users” in the country.
YouTrip said it has more than a million users in Singapore, and that it saw a 68 per cent increase in users aged 60 and above from 2023 to 2024.
Wise, another multi-currency e-wallet operator, said its local customer base grew 30 per cent year-on-year.
