Revolution says entering housing credit is complex

A ‘fintech’ Revolut does not yet have a date to enter the housing credit in Portugal, but guarantees that it wants to “offer all the products of traditional banking”.

In an interview with Lusa, the person responsible for the growth of the Revolution for South Europe, Latin America and the United States of America, Ignacio Zunzunegui, said that the goal is to offer “all the products that traditional banking offers”, but without becoming a traditional bank.

“We already offer personal credit, we are also working with credit card. Housing credit is a little more complex because it needs local adaptation”, he first replied, who added that this last solution has already been presented in countries such as Lithuania.

“Our ‘loan-to-deposit’ ratio is around 4% to 6%. Our goal is not that it rises to 60, 80, 90 or 100%. We want to be a place where the customer gets products at a competitive price,” he added.

For now, the goal for Portugal is to increase customer deposits.

After an annual increase of 49% in the number of customers in Portugal, to 2.3 million, Revout still has 20,000 companies.

According to Ignacio Zunzunegui, card services, the currency exchange platform and payment terminals are the most sought after.

The Spanish officer has made a positive assessment since the arrival of the head of the Revolution growth in southern Europe and Latin America.

“ When I started in 2022 almost five years ago, we had less than a million customers in all the markets we were operating in South Europe, and now we have 15 million more customers,” he said, with seven million in Spain, six million in Italy and nearly two million in Greece.

Ignacio Zunzunegui noted that the intention of the bank “is to democratise the financial sector” and provide a wide range of products.

“If we look at the portfolio of an investor in Portugal, 49% of people are investing in money funds, which is the safest type of investment product in the market, because they want to follow closely the ECB’s interest and at the same time have the tranquility that the risk is lower. Where we see a lot of growth is in the ETF [funds that gather several assets] and in the American shares, which are more commercial and easier to follow”, he defended.

On the client profile, Ignacio Zunzunegui pointed out that there are differences between the composition between Europe and Latin America, in particular due to the demographic pyramid, but that after the ‘early adopters’, the market has presented some standardization.

“ We have greater penetration in young people, but the average is rising every year”, since with increasing customer base, its composition is close to the average population.

In this sense, he said that growth in young people has driven growth among older generations, admitting that the conquest of quota between 18 and 24 years has an impact on family members.

“ Are we growing up to be 18 to 24? Perfect, because the rest will come with them. They are the ‘trendsetters’, he said.

Asked about the impact of physical presence, Ignacio Zunzunegui pointed out that it is something that increases customer confidence, but that realistically “no one wants to go to the bank”.

“ If I can make the phone, I don't want to go there. If I have to go is actually a negative thing, and I don’t want to go there because my time is valuable”, he said.

Still, he said the Revolution is testing in Barcelona the launch of a counter.

“ We still have areas of improvement, but from a universal point of view, I do not think there is a bank as complete as ours”, he said.