European fintechs ride the Trump train to Wall Street
The new set of aspiring American dreamers are landing on the shores of the Atlantic.
But these digital-first visionaries printed in venture capital green aren’t looking for a white picket fence. Instead, their sights are locked on a federal banking charter.
Last week Europe’s most valuable fintech company Revolut became the latest in a boat-load of the region’s brightest scale-ups to lodge a bid for a US banking permit.
Revolut’s commander-in-chief Nik Storonsky described the move as a “major milestone” as the neobank sets its sights on the 100 million customers mark.
Storonsky – who is no stranger to the UK’s regulatory bureaucracy – puts his $75bn on the sailing route familiar to a number of Europe’s top firms.
Europe’s second-largest neobank Bunq, which boasts over 20 million customers, kicked off the year with its play for a US permit.
And more talent is poised to follow. Starling’s finance boss Declan Ferguson said the strategy marked an “interesting opportunity to own and operate” a regulated bank in the US whilst Monzo has long been tipped to be plotting a bid for a US licence.
Fintechs pounce as Trump tears up regulation
Trump’s sweeping deregulation of the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010, which was enacted after the financial crisis to boost financial stability and increase accountability, helped open the floodgates to fresh lenders looking to grab a slice of the US’ banking market.
And it wasn’t just Europe, with payments giant Paypal, Brazilian fintech Nubank and crypto giant Coinbase all lodging licence bids in 2025.
The fresh reforms hiked the primary asset threshold at which firms face tougher prudential standards to $250bn from $50bn previously, meaning fewer companies were subject to stringent standards.
They also eased the ‘Volcker Rules’ for lenders with assets of less than $10bn, meaning banks were less restricted from certain speculative investments.
John Cronin, banking analyst at Seapoint Insights, told City AM while the move “makes a lot of sense” there was some scepticism over the lenders’ ability to “disrupt mainstream US banks”.
For Revolut, its bid to crack the US marks a second bite of the cherry after a state-level pursuit in California in 2021 was derailed by regulatory friction and a staggering $20m loss due to a flaw in its US payment system and concerns over its internal financial controls.
The firm would go on to hit pause on that attempt in late 2023, citing its intentions to focus on the global licensing roadmap.
But the charge back into the US from the London-born fintech juggernaut will be bound to set off alarm bells in Whitehall, not least because the US deregulation endeavour mirrors the results the Treasury had hoped to unleash across the UK.
Will listing hopefuls be lured away?
Rachel Reeves touted her Leeds Reforms – a deregulation package for the banking industry – as a bid to “rewire the financial services industry” last July.
But the efforts have thus far fallen flat, with Moody’s analysts telling City AM the reforms were “unlikely to be transformative, either for the banking system or as a driver for near term UK economic growth”.
Though even more concerning for the City, the rate of accelerated expansion from European fintech talent into the US adds to the growing fears firms will be bound for a US listing.
“There are question marks regarding the desired listing location for these banks anyway,” Cronin said.
“While the Chancellor can roll out the red carpet all she likes, it is my view that these banks are US-bound regardless if they do proceed with a listing at some point.”
Reeves has courted the UK’s fintech talent in hopes of strumming up enthusiasm for a London listing. In the Treasury’s financial services growth strategy last July, she also made a bid to galvanise listings with the launch of the new scale-up regulator and listings taskforce.
But once more, efforts appear to be limping to any meaningful impact. City AM revealed last month Starling’s billionaire majority backer Harald McPike had soured on ambitions for an IPO in London due to frustrations with regulation,
Describing Starling’s expansion into the US, one source said: “Things will have to move a lot faster or it is out the door sharply”.
Still, the listing candidates of tomorrow have all remained coy on where they intend to land, with Revolut, Monzo and Starling all insisting no decision has been made.
Though the spectre of Wise does hang over any decision. The UK fintech darling announced it was ditching its primary listing on the London Stock Exchange in favour of New York last year in a bruising move to those hoping a fintech-powered City markets revival.
The boss of one European fintech unicorn told City AM “without a doubt” more fintechs would follow this path.
Wise announced its plans last June and a month later launched its play for a US banking licence, putting the wind beneath the sails on the money transfer firm’s American dream.
The move whipped up choppy waters for the London stock market and may yet indicate that – for fintech giants – the American dream could become a UK nightmare.