Thursday June 13, 2024 6:00 am
Revolut has struck a deal to move its global headquarters to one of Canary Wharf’s most prominent buildings, as the fintech giant expands its presence in London’s financial district amid a long battle to secure a UK banking license .
The company said on Thursday it would move into the YY London building, with a 10-year lease. The move will take place in May 2025.
Although Revolut is already headquartered in Canary Wharf and will move to 7 Westferry Circus in 2018, the new base will place it in the heart of the iconic banking district and accommodate its growing workforce.
Office space in London is expected to increase by more than 40 percent to 113,000 square meters, which will take up four floors of the new building.
Revolut expects its global workforce to grow by around 40 percent by 2024 as it pushes for rapid expansion. The company reached 10,000 employees worldwide in April and plans to increase this number to 11,500 by the end of the year.
The YY Building has become a landmark of the Wharf since its construction in 1991. Originally designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox for the Canary Wharf Group, it was purchased in 2019 by property fund manager Quadrant and investor Oaktree Capital Management.
In 2020, the companies received planning permission for a major renovation that was completed last year, which saw the building receive a new facade, café, restaurant and a roof garden.
It is now planned to have a large sign with the Revolut logo, in the same vein as HSBC and Barclays, although this will require planning permission.
Revolut said it conducted a “city-wide search” for its new London base and selected YY London for its “best-in-class workspace, nearby amenities and industry-leading ESG credentials”.
The company’s commitment to Canary Wharf comes at a difficult time for the district. Post-pandemic remote work trends have devastated office space values. Vacancy is expected to reach 16.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2024 – up from 15 percent in the same period last year, CoStar said.
Star tenants HSBC and law firm Clifford Chance will leave in 2026 and 2028 respectively as part of austerity efforts, although Wall Street giant Morgan Stanley has added another decade to its lease.
Nikolay Storonsky, co-founder and CEO of Revolut, praised the new base as “in the center of London’s financial district”.
Francesca Carlesi, CEO of Revolut in the UK, added: “This new headquarters reinforces our commitment to Britain, our homeland, while laying the foundation to support future growth.”
Founded in 2015, Revolut became the UK’s largest fintech company in 2021 after achieving a $33 billion valuation in a funding round led by SoftBank. Its implied valuation by Schroders fell to a low $18 billion in 2022, but rose to around $26 billion late last year.
A major boost for Revolut would come if a UK banking license were secured from city regulators, allowing the company to offer products such as mortgages and credit cards in the domestic market.
The process usually takes a year, but Revolut has been waiting more than three years due to audit issues, criticism of the company culture and delayed submission of accounts.
Revolut’s banking app now has more than 40 million users worldwide, while its UK customer base recently reached nine million.
“Revolut’s phenomenal rise is a powerful 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.