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Nik Storonsky
CEO & Co-Founder, Revolut

“We Play on the Offensive.”An Interview with Revolut Founder Nikolay Storonsky

📅 Dec 17, 2025 Это Осетинская! 129 MIN 222696 VIEWS 450 SEGMENTS · 3 SPEAKERS
THIS MATERIAL (INFORMATION) WAS PRODUCED AND DISTRIBUTED BY FOREIGN AGENT ELIZAVETA NIKOLAEVNA OSETINSKAYA, OR RELATES TO THE ACTIVITIES OF FOREIGN AGENT ELIZAVETA NIKOLAEVNA OSETINSKAYA 18+ Choose premium apartments in Bali from one of the island’s most creative hoteliers, Felix Demin: https://osetinskaya.terra-auri.com/ EasyStaff Payroll — pay remote employees under a B2B contract in any convenient way. Free registration: https://clck.ru/3QoKjv Gordon Group — access to premium grocery-anchored real estate deals in Western Germany: https://gordongroup.de/ THE CHAT — join Osetinskaya’s bus...

Questions asked in this interview

12
  1. 0:46Is there any organization at all financial, which you consider your competitor?
  2. 7:59Well, what kind of ones do you have there, if so, can we say, these are the main points?
  3. 18:57Ah, so the Americans want you to have already issued a banking license?
  4. 31:51Oh, and you have it automated?
  5. 40:30When they leave, do you buy back their shares? How does this happen?
  6. 45:24That is not it so that the office is somehow tightly packed, yes? So you allow it, right?
  7. 55:58You want say that you are here as if as a hostage of the EE regulation?
  8. 1:12:15Listen, I read that you have some team of young people not assistants, but soshes, who they report and tell you directly, what's happening where?
  9. 1:23:21And what is yours? is it fair in principle?
  10. 1:35:48Is it true that you offered Oleg to invest in Revolut, and he refused?
  11. 1:47:23You invested in about two dozen companies, right?
  12. 2:00:17If you could, would you replace all or most people with AI?
Narrator 0:11 ↗
Here, everything is actually financial, everything giants. Those you tease. Well, we try to tease quietly so no one saw. The goal is to be number one in each country. Almost everything is possible to achieve, actually. That which obeys the laws of physics. Next year goal to earn 9 billion dollars in revenue and 3 net profit, setting more and more ambitious goals and reaching them itself.
Interviewer 0:46 ↗
Is there any organization at all financial, which you consider your competitor?
Nik Storonsky 0:52 ↗
There's my DSK with a white jacket.
Interviewer 0:54 ↗
And the office?
Nik Storonsky 0:55 ↗
I don't have an office.
Interviewer 0:57 ↗
In terms of? There is no office at all.
Nik Storonsky 0:59 ↗
It's only when you start working with average people, they come to you and they say: 'Oh, but we have such problems, and what should we do? How can we help? We don't like such people.' They should be very smart. There must be skill to solve problems.
Interviewer 1:08 ↗
Do you know what it looks like?
Nik Storonsky 1:10 ↗
I know. If we have a rigid culture, why do people want to work here then? They don't want to leave.
Interviewer 1:14 ↗
They left because of Russian citizenship. Came out, huh?
Nik Storonsky 1:16 ↗
Can you tell me why?
Interviewer 1:18 ↗
Well, there is hope.
Nik Storonsky 1:19 ↗
There is always hope.
Interviewer 1:49 ↗
Hello, friends. I'm in London. Here, as usual, it's windy and cold, but I'm very, very pleased, nevertheless, with the fact that I am here today. There's a new office of the Revolut company behind me, and now I'll go there to talk to its founder, Nikolai Storonsky. And I, of course, I'm very, very glad that we will have this conversation because today, Revolut is valued at 75 billion dollars. And this is what Revolut does, probably the most expensive startup created by a compatriot of ours, albeit a former one. We had, uh, many years ago, I think 7 years ago, a conversation with Nikolai. We then called it the secrets of the most fast-growing or hottest startup with Russian roots. He is predicted to have a future like Uber, but only in the banking sector. At that time, Revolut was estimated at 15 billion. And, of course, it's incredible what a journey this company and its founder have taken. All in all, of course, I want to reveal to you all the secrets, how this is even possible. Well, let's go.
And here I am, still talking about you, uh, via bluetooth work. I thought you had fingerprints via Bluetooth.
Nik Storonsky 3:30 ↗
No.
Interviewer 3:33 ↗
Yes, yes. That same tall stick on one floor.
Nik Storonsky 3:41 ↗
There's a bit of a guest from the future here.
Interviewer 3:44 ↗
Well, yes.
Nikolay, thank you very much for this opportunity to talk a second time. This, of course, is not the same company that it was 7 years ago when we were in 2018.
Nik Storonsky 4:04 ↗
Yes, it was such a modest office on Kursk. That's all here, of course.
Interviewer 4:09 ↗
Kursk was not our main office, that's probably why it was modest.
Nik Storonsky 4:12 ↗
Well, yes, there were developers there, yes.
Interviewer 4:15 ↗
I, of course, can say that I am a big fan and it's true, guys, it's not advertising. I am a very big fan of the product. That is, if there are any adherents, then I definitely relate to them. But the thing is that, of course, I am very impressed by this tremendous growth. Uh, I don't at all understand how you do it. I really want to find out and tell others. Do you have a new office?
Nik Storonsky 4:40 ↗
Yes, we moved here a month ago. Just a month ago.
Interviewer 4:43 ↗
Is this your own or are you filming?
Nik Storonsky 4:46 ↗
Well, we are filming, yes. Well, we took the premises, did renovations.
Interviewer 4:50 ↗
Yes. How many people are there here?
Nik Storonsky 4:53 ↗
There are 2,000 people in London.
Interviewer 4:56 ↗
Yes. And you seemed to have announced that you would increase the quantity.
Nik Storonsky 5:01 ↗
Yes, yes, yes, yes.
Interviewer 5:02 ↗
So, for you, this is an investment in Britain, is it planned?
Nik Storonsky 5:06 ↗
Well, from a PR point of view, yes.
Interviewer 5:07 ↗
How much in total? Come on, let me show you how you have it set up here.
Nik Storonsky 5:12 ↗
Okay, well, this is the main section. Yes. Such, like from the future. Here we usually have all sorts of drinks, receptions, a lot of people come. Here we have, uh, a meta-audience, yes, here, well, various speeches are arranged, different people are brought in, different shows.
Interviewer 5:40 ↗
What kind of shows do you invite?
Nik Storonsky 5:43 ↗
Well, from a marketing point of view, we invite, for example, entrepreneurs, so that they can use Revolut for business.
Narrator 5:53 ↗
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Interviewer 6:46 ↗
How many people are there in Revolut now? How many does it work in and in how many countries?
Nik Storonsky 6:51 ↗
The core team consists of 5,000 people. And there is also support, services and SLAs - that's another thousand people, in my opinion. So there are amounts somewhere well, more than 10,000.
Interviewer 7:04 ↗
Well, I would say it's pretty modest in relation to, well, conditionally speaking, other banks.
Nik Storonsky 7:12 ↗
Well, yes, yes. That is, there are some, I don't know, tens of thousands of people work normally. Well, yes, the core team is 5,000 people.
Interviewer 7:19 ↗
Well, how does it work out anyway? That is, people, I don't know, they call twice as much and three times more there.
Nik Storonsky 7:25 ↗
Well, we are essentially customer support automated to 3/odd. That is, before these LLM language models, we had a large support team. Now 75% of all volumes, but in essence, well, the chatbot responds either by voice or by voice assistant.
Interviewer 7:43 ↗
Ah, that is, when I correspond there, then this is usually a chatbot in support.
Nik Storonsky 7:47 ↗
In this case, well, I see. Let's go further and have a look.
Interviewer 7:51 ↗
Ah, and in how many countries is Revolut now?
Nik Storonsky 7:56 ↗
We are now somewhere around 40 countries.
Interviewer 7:59 ↗
Yes. Well, what kind of ones do you have there, if so, can we say, these are the main points?
Nik Storonsky 8:04 ↗
Well, it's clear that Britain is, well, Britain's main market is France, Spain, Italy, Romania, Poland. Yes. Now Germany is already starting to pick up.
Interviewer 8:17 ↗
And in general, is development also here?
Nik Storonsky 8:20 ↗
Yes. We have developers in almost every office. Well, it's big, the biggest office in London. There is development here, in Spain, in Barcelona, in Madrid, Poland. Here you can go here. Well, of these 5,000 people, probably 1,200 are developers. There's another 1,000 in product. Well, we're probably roughly 30-40% is product engineering and data science of all the entire staff.
Interviewer 8:45 ↗
Yes. Operations is a big function. Well then, there is, probably, if you compare it with some traditional bank, then the IT component is very prevalent.
Nik Storonsky 8:56 ↗
Well, I guess so. I don't know what the numbers are for traditional banks, but somewhere around 30-40% is development, product, and data science.
Narrator 9:05 ↗
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Interviewer 11:11 ↗
Nikolay, literally a week ago, I think, you had a big event. You received a new assessment from investors, 75 billion dollars. And how much is your company now approximately worth? It was, as I understand it, some kind of secondary placement. Can you tell me what it was all about and what kind of placement this is and did you raise investments?
Nik Storonsky 11:37 ↗
It's not that we didn't raise anything, because the company is profitable and we don't need any capital. And actually, in May, large investors also came and said they wanted to invest. And we agreed with them on this valuation of 75 billion in May. And only recently we announced it. Yes. That is, we allowed them to buy from previous investors at that valuation. So some investors exited, and they bought.
Interviewer 12:03 ↗
That is, how could Revolut not receive any money itself?
Nik Storonsky 12:08 ↗
But we didn't do a primary. No. A primary is when new shares are issued and we sell to shareholders. We didn't do that.
Interviewer 12:15 ↗
So these investments you're talking about, they announced it recently, that's also quite recently, I think it was a couple of months ago, you're going to, actually, from what you earned?
Nik Storonsky 12:27 ↗
Well, yes, we don't have any external capital.
Interviewer 12:29 ↗
And as I understand it, there are also employees who could sell something. Can you tell me how it works? Do you have any pool now? There are employees who have become co-owners, managers? Every employee has some compensation in shares. Well, that is, there is a salary, there is a bonus. Depending on the seniority of the employee, some bonuses are paid in cash, part is paid in shares.
Nik Storonsky 12:57 ↗
This applies to all 12,000 in general. Well, we have 5,000 employees who are not customer support, not sales. The other 7,000 are support, sales, and fincrime services. Their compensation is a little different, mostly in cash.
Interviewer 13:14 ↗
Yes. A few months ago, I think there was a big announcement about what you are planning, such impressive investments, billions of sums in different development. Could you tell me again what you are planning, where and why?
Nik Storonsky 13:30 ↗
We are planning, naturally, expansion. We applied for a banking license in Europe, we are applying for a banking license in England, and applying for a banking license in the States. Revolut is in about 40 countries now. We are now making a big push in Latin America. In Latin America, we have already received a banking license in Mexico. We bought a bank in Argentina. We applied for a banking license in Brazil. In Peru, we applied for a banking license. In Colombia, we received a banking license. We are very strongly expanding our staff and launching a business there. Then in North America, in the States, we are applying for a banking license. And then, if we look at the Middle East, we are getting a license. And in Africa, in Morocco and in South Africa, we recently applied for a license. And in Asia, the Philippines, the banking license has already been received. We are currently looking to buy a bank in Indonesia. And in Australia, we already have a business and there seems to be a pending banking license. What about India? Yes, we will also apply for a banking license in India.
Interviewer 14:38 ↗
That is, basically, you've just listed the whole world.
Nik Storonsky 14:41 ↗
Well, not the whole world, that's a percentage. How many are there if there are 200 countries in the world? We want to be in 60. As they say, this is the way. 30% is not visible. To be in 100 countries, to be the number one player in 100 countries of the world, so that there would be 100 million clients.
Interviewer 15:00 ↗
How many users do you have now?
Nik Storonsky 15:03 ↗
About 2 million.
Interviewer 15:04 ↗
Oh, already a bit. So you are the biggest, yes? And now if we talk about Daily Active categories, well, we have about 15 million Daily Active, I think 25-30 weekly Active and there are 35-40 million total. And in total, these are considered people who have an account opened, but they don't use it often. That is, apparently, people for whom this is some second, third bank, a spare, right? There are 15 million such users.
Nik Storonsky 15:39 ↗
Well, yes.
Interviewer 15:40 ↗
Yes. You certainly gathered powerfully. Investment evaluation is for all this necessary.
Nik Storonsky 15:45 ↗
Well, we figured out that it would be, I think they announced 6 or 8 billion for expansion, but this is for the next 5 years. This is without Great Britain.
Interviewer 15:53 ↗
This is without Great Britain.
Nik Storonsky 15:55 ↗
United Kingdom, I think there were 3 billion and thousands of additional jobs.
Interviewer 15:59 ↗
So for you, Britain is still the main market, but it's less than 20% of the business now. That is, it is no longer as significant as it was earlier, but nevertheless, Revolut is number one.
Narrator 16:17 ↗
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Interviewer 18:06 ↗
Well, let's go, since we've already started talking about countries and continents, let's talk about America.
Nik Storonsky 18:11 ↗
Yes.
Interviewer 18:12 ↗
Well, America is a country of more than 300 million population, the most powerful financial system, the most powerful economy. And you are in a bit of a waiting mode, that is, you have it for enterprises, but not for the mass of people using it, right?
Nik Storonsky 18:30 ↗
We don't have a banking license there.
Interviewer 18:32 ↗
And how does regulation work in America, if you are not an American company?
Nik Storonsky 18:39 ↗
They allow you to get a banking license there if there is a consolidated banking regulator, and it can only be England, France, or Germany. So, while we haven't transferred all our clients in England to a banking license in England, they don't allow us to get a banking license there.
Interviewer 18:57 ↗
Ah, so the Americans want you to have already issued a banking license?
Nik Storonsky 19:00 ↗
No, they want it to be a consolidated regulator. One of the three I named.
Interviewer 19:04 ↗
What is a consolidated regulator?
Nik Storonsky 19:07 ↗
Well, if it's a British company, accordingly, the consolidated regulator is the PRA, it's the regulator of British banking.
Interviewer 19:14 ↗
That is, the ECB is not this, European, right?
Nik Storonsky 19:18 ↗
No.
Interviewer 19:18 ↗
Look, I remember when we were talking, I was still interrogating you. So, are you a bank or not a bank? How would you describe it?
Nik Storonsky 19:28 ↗
Well, look, we launched 2 years ago. We never positioned ourselves as a bank. We always positioned ourselves as a tech company that works in the banking sector, but provides services better and cheaper compared to banks.
Interviewer 19:43 ↗
Even then it wasn't entirely clear. Now I have a feeling that you still maintain the pace of development of a technology company, but you're still trying to become a bank, to join that club.
Nik Storonsky 20:01 ↗
Well, we have already passed that club in most countries. That is, Revolut is essentially a banking group that provides all banking services and also non-banking services. We also do business outside of banking. For example, we have a crypto exchange, cryptocurrencies, lifestyle products, and SIM cards. And recently we launched a VPN. So we are a technology company that is in the banking business, but in addition to banking, we also have other businesses.
Interviewer 20:28 ↗
You yourself perceive yourself from the inside, how do we build such a modern bank of the 21st century, or are you still fintech?
Nik Storonsky 20:39 ↗
It depends on the definitions, what is fintech, what is a bank. It depends on how you think, as I think. We just look at where the opportunities are and go there.
Interviewer 20:52 ↗
Well, the opportunities still lie in making money, probably in loans.
Nik Storonsky 20:57 ↗
In loans too, in credit cards, yes. That is the most profitable type of this kind. Well, again it depends on the country. In Europe, for example, credit cards are very strongly regulated. Companies that have a lot of money earned on credit cards, like Capital One, couldn't build a business in Europe because of the strong regulation. They put you in such a framework that it's hard to earn on credit.
Interviewer 21:25 ↗
Capital One. This is actually, at one time Tinkov said that he spied on them at the beginning, took their model, and then, of course, redeveloped it.
Nik Storonsky 21:40 ↗
Yes. In the States, this is actually permissible. In the States, the credit business is a big business and there is different regulation compared to Europe. So you can really build a big credit business there, just like in Latin America.
Interviewer 21:55 ↗
And Latin America is also credit-oriented, yes?
Nik Storonsky 21:59 ↗
Yeah.
Interviewer 21:59 ↗
Well, now, in general, if we talk about today, you are actually a bank that mainly makes money in Europe?
Nik Storonsky 22:07 ↗
Yes. 95% of our revenue is from Europe. This is Britain, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Romania, Poland. But we are in every country in Europe now. If we talk about what brings in the main money, it's transactions and crypto. Well, we are very diversified. We have, I don't know, probably 10 product lines, and they are all approximately the same. Crypto is less than 7% of revenue. So it's a balanced thing.
Interviewer 22:41 ↗
I can't help but ask you about your plans for France, because they wrote that you are going to open a Western European office with the center in France.
Nik Storonsky 22:51 ↗
Yes, we are applying for a banking license in France. Well, we rented a big office in France.
Interviewer 22:58 ↗
While you operate in Europe through a Lithuanian license.
Nik Storonsky 23:02 ↗
We have a European Central Bank license. We started with a Lithuanian banking license and from, I think, 2022, we have been regulated by the European Central Bank.
Interviewer 23:13 ↗
Well, as if that wasn't enough.
Nik Storonsky 23:16 ↗
In what way?
Interviewer 23:17 ↗
Well, I don't understand. I want to ask you. That is, if you have the ECB, it's kind of European, it's for everyone, or is it not so?
Nik Storonsky 23:28 ↗
Well, on the one hand, it's for everyone, on the other hand, as I already said, in America, they want the domestic regulator to be either the UK, or France, or Germany. Not the ECB, but rather one of them, because the ECB is a superstructure over Europe.
Interviewer 23:47 ↗
Listen, France in general, how can I say this, in some sense it is famous for its strong banks. There are a lot of strong classic banks there. If you get this license, then you will become their direct competitor.
Nik Storonsky 24:06 ↗
Well, we are already their direct competitor, because we already have a banking license, we already produce all products in France, including credit. We are already a competitor. And in fact, if you look at France, we are the fastest growing bank there now, which opens the most new accounts. So whether we get a license or not, it won't have any effect.
Interviewer 24:24 ↗
I saw in one interview, you said this, you tried to say something about all these regulatory things, how to simplify it, to get the easiest licenses readily available. I think it was even in the Financial Times interview, and how to go as quickly as possible, at the expense of technology to develop. I understand that something has changed in your idea of how this world is arranged.
Nik Storonsky 24:51 ↗
No, well, in practice we started that way because that was the common sense for an outsider. To move quickly, you have to be as little regulated as possible. But we've been in this business for over 10 years, have received many banking licenses, launched in many countries, some didn't work. We realized that in fact the most optimal thing is not to enter a country with a lighter license, like an e-money license or payments license. First, obtain a full banking license with all the products, then launch the product. This is our approach, and we see the benefits in the long term. Firstly, because such a license is easier to get when you don't have clients. Secondly, by getting a lighter license, you can't launch all products. As a result, it's difficult for you to compete with local banks. It's much easier to switch everything around and say, 'No, we'll get the banking license first, then launch all products at the same time.'
Interviewer 25:53 ↗
If you take some book about startup operating manuals, it says the opposite, that you need to be lean and spend less.
Nik Storonsky 26:00 ↗
Theorists, because in practice it's the opposite.
Interviewer 26:06 ↗
And you said that since clients are not many, it seems easier, right?
Nik Storonsky 26:12 ↗
I'm just watching as a fan, I'm watching your way in Britain. You first had a limited license, then you issued a full license, then it slowed down.
Interviewer 26:28 ↗
No, they didn't slow it down. The process is, they gave it. And then you need to get permission from them in order to transfer all clients from the lighter license to the full banking license. This process has been going on for 12-13 months. The main reason is that the British regulator has never seen a company that grows 50-100% per year, which has many banking licenses, which has 12 million clients in the UK. They've never done this in their life. The closest analogy is probably HSBC, which is also an international bank with many products, also in the UK. It grows 3-5% per year. So they haven't seen a business like ours yet, and that's why they are super cautious and afraid.
Yes. 12 million clients - how much is that in England? 70 million? 20% of the adult population, right? Well, more than 20%, yes, if of the adult population. That is, every fifth, I think even every fourth person has a Revolut card. So when you are big, you somehow need to be monitored more strongly.
Nik Storonsky 27:48 ↗
It turns out like this.
Interviewer 27:49 ↗
And when this license is incomplete, what is the difference? What can't you do?
Nik Storonsky 27:53 ↗
We cannot give credit. We can do the rest.
Interviewer 27:57 ↗
This is a greater risk.
Nik Storonsky 27:58 ↗
Well, that's how the regulation system works. It's designed so that as soon as you start to balance a business, it's a credit business, then it's a different regulator, the PRA. The payments business is the FCA, the Financial Conduct Authority. So it's a completely different observer behind us.
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Interviewer 30:13 ↗
Basically, from the outside, you are growing very fast. People trust you with their money, but this rapid growth probably creates some concerns. How do you handle risk management?
Nik Storonsky 30:30 ↗
Well, we have a lot of product teams, engineers, and data science management. This is actually where we differ from other old banks. We solve compliance and risk management issues with technology as well. So instead of hiring lots and lots of people, risk managers, we build systems, we build internal products that automatically monitor risks and have automatic risk controls. Plus, regulation itself. Let's say, not a single bank can tell if they are fully compliant with regulation or not. Because we are present in approximately 40 countries around the world. What did we do? We built a system that essentially loads all these regulations. That's about 400,000 pages, probably half a million pages. It is impossible for one person to read in their whole life. Only AI can do it. Then, accordingly, AI, language models, they extract our obligations in English. Then managers link these obligations to controls. And then they test these controls, they check whether the control works or not. No bank in the world does this. Not a single bank in the world can tell if they are compliant and show proof that they are compliant with each paragraph of regulation.
Interviewer 31:51 ↗
Oh, and you have it automated?
Nik Storonsky 31:53 ↗
We have the majority automated, right?
Interviewer 31:55 ↗
And you have an internal model? You built your own neural network?
Nik Storonsky 31:59 ↗
Why don't we do this usually? Yes.
Interviewer 32:00 ↗
That is, you have your own neural network inside the bank?
Nik Storonsky 32:03 ↗
And what about your own neural network in terms of LLM? Yes. Yes. Not language models. There we have many, we use OpenAI providers, a million, there is open source. Usually, they take open source, fine-tune it, and adapt it to their needs.
Interviewer 32:20 ↗
Well, anyway, you see, somehow they are afraid and moving very slowly.
Nik Storonsky 32:26 ↗
Well, I think because the regulator is not for those companies. They don't have the same methods that we have. They still regulate using old methods, on a piece of paper.
Interviewer 32:39 ↗
Well, that is, what policies do you have? Describe your policy, describe your controls, then there's some ping-pong with emails, then they ask some questions. That's how they regulate. Do you have any expectations regarding the timeframe, in Britain in particular?
Nik Storonsky 32:56 ↗
In Britain, I never have any expectations.
Interviewer 32:59 ↗
I read that you hope by the end of the year, but the clock is already ticking, there is little left.
Nik Storonsky 33:05 ↗
Well, we'll see, yes.
Interviewer 33:06 ↗
Well, there is hope.
Nik Storonsky 33:08 ↗
Always in hope. We always hire banking teams of classic bankers, but we interview them very carefully for special qualities that we need.
Interviewer 33:18 ↗
Which ones are these?
Nik Storonsky 33:20 ↗
Problem-solving, then cultural fit. There must be certain skills. In principle, we are very selective in the people we hire, especially bankers.
Interviewer 33:30 ↗
Well, probably especially the leaders, because they need to have their own characteristics to match you?
Nik Storonsky 33:40 ↗
First of all, they must be very smart, there must be the ability to solve problems. We usually hire people with so-called STEM education: Science, Technology, Engineering, Math. Secondly, they must have a track record, some big achievements compared to their peers or from their peer groups. It starts with student life, with school. So we ask, 'Okay, what achievements did you have at university? What university did you graduate from? What did you do in your career at that bank, that bank, that bank?' And during the interview, it's clear if they are in the top 5% of people in that bank or not. And cultural fit. We mainly look at people who are doers, who can solve tasks. We look at people who are strong managers, because basically 90-95% of people are afraid to fire others. We definitely look to ensure that people don't have such fear, because it is a very important component of business. We look at the quality of their work. It is important that they are deep in detail on one hand, and on the other hand, they are even perfectionists in some ways. And the last thing we look at is that they set ambitious goals and achieved them. Usually, people who come always try to lower goals at work or in organizations to make it easier to achieve. We don't like people like that.
Interviewer 35:07 ↗
You said that 95% of people are afraid to fire, and that people tend to set their goals too low. What have you discovered from your experience over these 10 years of building the company?
Nik Storonsky 35:20 ↗
Well, yes, I've probably done, I don't know, 10,000 to 20,000 interviews in person. Many. We ask the manager: 'Okay, how many people report to you? 200 people. How many have you fired in the last 3 years? Two or three.' OK. Not ours, that's not enough.
Interviewer 35:41 ↗
But how does it turn out that all 200 people are very strong? That doesn't happen.
Nik Storonsky 35:47 ↗
Well, how much would be adequate in your idea? Like forced attrition, I guess, I don't know, 10% per year minimum. That is, 10% of new blood is good. Well, I think even 20% is good.
Interviewer 36:01 ↗
Fine, because there is an opinion that if the outflow and inflow of people is too big, then the company is not very friendly to its employees.
Nik Storonsky 36:14 ↗
Well, it depends. Firstly, in each chain, there should be a strong person. If someone is weak, they influence other people. Secondly, they block the growth of people under them. It is super important to have a very fast ladder for talented people to the very top of the company. Therefore, if you keep average people in management, you block potentially more talented people below.
Interviewer 36:45 ↗
The positive side of this is clear. But there are probably negative sides too. When you have all super achievers in the company, how does it work?
Nik Storonsky 36:55 ↗
It only gets easier, believe me. The super achievers don't need to be told anything, they don't even need goals to be set. They know everything themselves. They just come to you and say: 'Look, these are the goals, these are the metrics, these are the problems we have, and these are the solutions for your information.' And that's all. As soon as you start working with average people, they come and say: 'Oh, we have these problems, what should we do? How can you help?' You start to interact with them, you're wasting your time.
Interviewer 37:20 ↗
Well, I understand you, but they are people after all. It is quite difficult to select an entire team that is so close to something ideal. As a leader, you interviewed 10,000 to 20,000 people?
Nik Storonsky 37:38 ↗
No, no, not all. I always interview key people. When I first started, I interviewed absolutely everyone. Now, only the key ones. And even then, only if we hire someone from outside, but we usually try to promote from within the company.
Interviewer 37:53 ↗
And you try from the inside. Are there people in the company, besides your co-founder Vlad Yatsenko, who worked there for more than 5 years?
Nik Storonsky 38:04 ↗
Vlad joined the company in 2015 as CTO. In 2017, he became a co-founder. So he's been working for 10 years now. He's been with me the whole way.
Interviewer 38:21 ↗
And is there someone else who ran almost that long?
Nik Storonsky 38:24 ↗
No, there is no one else.
Interviewer 38:26 ↗
Doesn't this upset you?
Nik Storonsky 38:28 ↗
Well, on one hand, it's sad. On the other hand, if you have a football team and you are the manager, you want it to win every year. It's clear that some people come, some go. A champion team won't be champion for 10, 15, or 20 years. That's life.
Interviewer 38:45 ↗
I read in some interview that you compared this training with super athletes, champions, where there are no places for a balanced life.
Nik Storonsky 38:59 ↗
Well, of course, the strongest people, the best people, everything about them is aimed at winning. They are thinking about it 24/7. And this gives them a huge advantage over good specialists who work 9 to 5.
Interviewer 39:15 ↗
Yes. And how do you win this competition? Through conditions, money, stock?
Nik Storonsky 39:21 ↗
What does it mean you win? Well, you are competing with others. Look around, there's a skyscraper here, General. The French have work-life balance, a 2-hour lunch break. The legislation protects them. They are playing defense; we are on the attack. They have an existing business and infrastructure. We are attacking.
Interviewer 39:46 ↗
Why do you need this? The question is how to convince people to accept these conditions.
Nik Storonsky 39:53 ↗
As I already said, in the interview process, we look for high achievers. Plus, we are much more generous with material rewards. People here earn more than in other banks. I read that you can work there for 3-5 years and earn enough. We have many people who are dollar multimillionaires upon exiting. They even sold part of their shares. I looked at the numbers, someone had 80 million dollars, someone had 50 or 80 million dollars for managers. Those who started early, yes, they are not managers now, but they were.
Interviewer 40:30 ↗
Wait, but the company is not public. When they leave, do you buy back their shares? How does this happen?
Nik Storonsky 40:38 ↗
Well, yes, we are trying to buy back shares now, but we also allow these secondary sales when they are essentially selling the company's shares. There is a closed market for Revolut, but you can access it if you worked there or if you are a big investor.
Interviewer 40:58 ↗
Well, yes, yes. And what are the IPO plans? There has been a lot of talk that Revolut will do an IPO sooner or later.
Nik Storonsky 41:07 ↗
Ah, well, we'll probably do it in 2-3 years.
Interviewer 41:10 ↗
Do you have any specific vision? If you do it, for what purpose? Is there some mini-goal or priority?
Nik Storonsky 41:20 ↗
It's not so important, actually. What is it for? So that investors can get an exit, or for raising capital? Well, it's more about trust and reputation. A public company is theoretically trusted more.
Interviewer 41:36 ↗
There was talk about it. You were asked if you will be based in London, because it's an obvious international financial center, or in the US?
Nik Storonsky 41:48 ↗
Well, if you analyze carefully where it's more profitable, then in the USA, obviously, it's more profitable because there is more liquidity, so you can get a higher valuation. Plus, there are no taxes on buying and selling shares, whereas in England there is a stamp duty, where you pay half a percent on every transaction. Naturally, it's much less profitable than in the States, where it's free. But at the same time, the fact that we have a relatively small business there doesn't play a big role. It doesn't matter, yes.
Interviewer 42:39 ↗
There's my desk with a white jacket. Wait, this is it, the office?
Nik Storonsky 42:45 ↗
I don't have an office.
Interviewer 42:46 ↗
In terms of? There is no office at all, not even a large glass office?
Nik Storonsky 42:50 ↗
No, no. No one has one.
Interviewer 42:51 ↗
So you're sitting right there?
Nik Storonsky 42:53 ↗
Well, yes.
Interviewer 42:56 ↗
And everyone can approach you during the day and say something? Do people often do that?
Nik Storonsky 43:03 ↗
No. Well, some do, some don't. They all seem to do what they are supposed to do.
Interviewer 43:10 ↗
Yes. Well, do you have some kind of subordination? How does it work?
Nik Storonsky 43:18 ↗
Well, it's all flat. Any person can approach, why not? There are no barriers.
Interviewer 43:24 ↗
If you want something from a manager, do they report? Do they give feedback?
Nik Storonsky 43:29 ↗
They do, yes.
Interviewer 43:30 ↗
And they give unpleasant ones?
Nik Storonsky 43:32 ↗
Well, of course they do.
Interviewer 43:32 ↗
Yes. Well, I'm getting ahead of myself, but I read a lot about the fact that you have this principle of radical honesty in the company, that you need to speak as directly as possible.
Nik Storonsky 43:46 ↗
By the way, yes, it is difficult for many people in the corporate world to accept this standard of communication. It's hard for them to switch to that culture. First of all, people below you can speak directly if they don't like something. Secondly, there is no politics, because all KPIs are useless, everything is metrics. People, especially blue managers, can't hide. In regular banks, they can convince that everything is fine when in fact everything is bad, because they have very good communication skills. It's much more difficult for us to do that because we just look at the facts. It doesn't matter how long you are in the office, it doesn't matter if there are renovations or not, it doesn't matter how many people achieved their goals or didn't. If you don't achieve for a long time, then someone else must try.
Interviewer 44:34 ↗
And here is the place, yes, how many attempts are given? Is there a right to make a mistake?
In principle, I understand everything in 2 weeks. That is, how many is there, two or three times? Man, I understand there might be something there or can't. That is, I give 2 weeks there, others more. Probation.
Nik Storonsky 44:53 ↗
Well, he's officially been dependent on me for 3 months. Countries. Ah, well, I understand it in about 2 weeks. Cool.
Interviewer 45:01 ↗
Something like a canteen, right?
Nik Storonsky 45:03 ↗
Well, there is a canteen on each floor. Yeah. Somewhere it's bigger, somewhere it's smaller.
Interviewer 45:07 ↗
But I see you don't have any, you know, like that. Well, like in Google, some kind of gaming rooms, pinball table.
Nik Storonsky 45:15 ↗
But there is no time to play. There is no time. No time to play. Well, there's some installed PlayStation, but I never see something was playing.
Interviewer 45:24 ↗
In general, people have the impression that very many of us work. That is not it so that the office is somehow tightly packed, yes? So you allow it, right?
Nik Storonsky 45:33 ↗
Yes.
Interviewer 45:34 ↗
Or some kind of policy there, like 2 days off.
Nik Storonsky 45:38 ↗
No, well, what's the point? All adults, like if they themselves choose where they work better and how much time do they have in the office come. Here. But if the task is not done, then we change people.
Interviewer 45:49 ↗
Here, well, Knev, you probably know, yes? Yes, that's all here, actually. Financial, yes, when Morganze Brass, I that's where I started 20 years ago building.
Nik Storonsky 45:59 ↗
Class. Well, I saw both CT Graal and JP Morgan here. JP Morgan is right there right now. And right now, in this building, yes, all the giants are those you tease. And well, we try to tease quietly, so that no one would see. Well, and then you look at the results, and there it is. Well, that's later.
Interviewer 46:24 ↗
Look, I wanted to ask you about something like a role model. I asked you without a camera: 'Are you watching behind that bank?' And you follow that bank? Is there any at all financial organization that you consider your competitor and which one is here you want to, how to say, overtake or, a there, I don't know, win?
Nik Storonsky 46:45 ↗
But we have a little bit of a different approach because we look at many countries in general, and the goal is, to be number one in every country. And, naturally, in different countries there will be different players. And we set goals so that, accordingly, I don't know in this country we are number one, now we are number three, we want to be number one and so on.
Interviewer 47:02 ↗
Number one for what? By assets, by number of clients, by...
Nik Storonsky 47:07 ↗
Well, when we just come in, when we're just entering, it's more according to height. So, in terms of growth, essentially, how much, what the number of clients coming to us every day, how many accounts do we open? Yes. That's when it's already more a stable market for us, that's when we look more there, I don't know, there it is maybe banshee, maybe what is the profitability?
Interviewer 47:28 ↗
Well, if we take, for example, where we are in England, who is who for you would be the main competitor?
Nik Storonsky 47:32 ↗
UK and Ireland, uh this is probably Monza. Mona, yes.
Interviewer 47:40 ↗
Yes. That is, you still yourself are you comparing with non-banks?
Nik Storonsky 47:44 ↗
Well, yes.
Interviewer 47:45 ↗
Why not with Barclays, not with HSBC?
Nik Storonsky 47:48 ↗
Because we have already overtaken them opening of accounts. Yes, but not by assets, not by not on the asset side, well, because, well, for now we do not have a credit business in England. Well, and not for clients.
Interviewer 48:00 ↗
By clients Barknut 20 million in England, probably. Yes. Yes. That is to say, after all...
Nik Storonsky 48:06 ↗
Well, yes.
Interviewer 48:07 ↗
So, what if we take the States, for example?
Nik Storonsky 48:10 ↗
States. Well, we're looking more at GP Morgan, on Chase. Well, this is just a classic, more classic player.
Interviewer 48:18 ↗
Well, wait, 80 million in total, right? Cheza. Well, probably yes. Well, that is, there is a chase in everyone, that is, if you go there, I don't know, in a village there in Arizona, uh, then it will be there there, I don't know, Starbucks, uh some Safeway and JP Morgan, well, in meaning...
Nik Storonsky 48:37 ↗
Yes, yes, yes. Well, here we are in America, whose we're looking, yes. So you want them, so to speak, to overtake in terms of growth rate. Well, there is a goal, yes.
Interviewer 48:46 ↗
Yeah. But still without offices, everything is virtual.

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APA

Storonsky, N. (2025, December 17). “We Play on the Offensive.”An Interview with Revolut Founder Nikolay Storonsky [Interview transcript]. Это Осетинская!. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/584091/

MLA

Nik Storonsky. "“We Play on the Offensive.”An Interview with Revolut Founder Nikolay Storonsky." Это Осетинская!, 17 Dec. 2025. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/584091/.

BibTeX
@misc{storonsky2025_584091,
  author       = {Nik Storonsky},
  title        = {“We Play on the Offensive.”An Interview with Revolut Founder Nikolay Storonsky},
  howpublished = {Interview transcript, Это Осетинская!. CEOInterviews.AI},
  year         = {2025},
  month        = {dec},
  url          = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/584091/},
  note         = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}