Chapter 10 Challenger bank as a new digital form of providing financial services to retail customers in the EU Internal Market : The case of Revolut

Abstract

‘Challenger banks’ are banks or non-banking start-ups, the operations of which are based on digital technologies and which challenge big, traditional banks. It is a new approach to provide financial services, where an agile organization and new technologies are the key success factors. The aim of the study is to explore the operations of challenger banks and their new digital approaches to provide banking and investment services to retail customers as an innovation in the financial market. The case of Revolut is used as a unit of analysis. The study makes an attempt to identify and explore: (i) What product innovations have been implemented by Revolut in regard to the customers’ access to financial markets? (ii) How does Revolut compete with other challenger banks and traditional financial institutions? (iii) What are socio-economic consequences of innovations introduced by challenger banks? (iv) What is the legal formula of Revolut's operations? From the perspective of management theory, the study identifies the mechanisms of developing and implementing innovations in the financial sector, in the context of digital transformation and the changes in legal regulations.