Thursday, June 13, 2024, 6:00 a.m
Revolut has struck a deal to move its global headquarters to one of Canary Wharf’s most prominent buildings, as the fintech giant grows its presence in London’s financial district amid a long-running battle to win a UK banking licence.
The company said on Thursday it would move into the YY London building on a 10-year lease. The move is scheduled to take place in May 2025.
While Revolut is already based in Canary Wharf and will move to 7 Westferry Circus in 2018, the new base will make it the heart of the iconic banking district and accommodate its growing workforce.
Its London office space is to increase by more than 40 per cent to 113,000 sq ft and will occupy four floors of the new building.
Revolut expects to grow its workforce by around 40 percent in 2024 as it pushes for rapid expansion. The firm reached 10,000 employees worldwide in April and plans to increase that number to 11,500 by the end of the year.
The YY Building has become a Wharf landmark since it was built in 1991. Originally designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox for Canary Wharf Group, it was purchased in 2019 by property fund manager Quadrant and investor Oaktree Capital Management.
In 2020, the firms received planning permission for an extensive renovation, which was completed last year and gave the building a new facade, cafe, restaurant and roof garden.
It is now set to put up a large sign with the Revolut logo, in a similar vein to HSBC and Barclays, although the feature is subject to planning permission.
Revolut said it conducted a “city-wide search” for its new London base and chose YY London for its “best-in-class workspace, nearby amenities and leading ESG credentials”.
The firm’s commitment to Canary Wharf comes at a difficult time for the district. Post-pandemic telecommuting trends have destroyed the value of its office space, with vacancy expected to reach 16.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2024, up from 15 percent in the same period last year, CoStar reports.
Star tenants HSBC and law firm Clifford Chance are expected to leave by 2026 and 2028 respectively as part of efforts to cut staff, although Wall Street giant Morgan Stanley has added a further ten years to the lease.
Nikolay Storonsky, co-founder and CEO of Revolut, touted the new base as being “at the heart of London’s financial district”.
Francesca Carlesi, UK CEO of Revolut, added: “This new headquarters reinforces our commitment to the UK, our home country, while creating a foundation to support future growth.”
Founded in 2015, Revolut is set to become Britain’s largest fintech firm in 2021 after being valued at $33 billion in a funding round led by SoftBank. Its implied valuation by Schroders fell to just $18 billion in 2022, but rose to around $26 billion at the end of last year.
A big boost for Revolut would be securing a UK banking license from the city’s regulators, which would allow it to offer products such as mortgages and credit cards in its home market.
The process usually takes one year, but Revolut waited more than three due to audit issues, criticism of the company’s culture and delayed submission of accounts.
Banking app Revolut now boasts more than 40 million users worldwide, while its UK customer base recently hit nine million.
“The phenomenal rise of Revolut is a strong testament to the extraordinary environment we have created for the world’s leading and most innovative companies,” said Shobi Khan, CEO of Canary Wharf Group.