UK-based digital banking app, Revolut, offers personal and business spending accounts as well as low-cost money transfers at preferred exchange rates. Customers get both physical and virtual debit cards to conveniently manage their everyday spending. Business accounts can be integrated with popular business software, and account holders can use management tools to control employee account access.
But can entrepreneurs use Revolut for Business if they live in Canada? Are there any good alternative services in Canada?
Currently, no. To open a business account with Revolut, companies must be registered in, and have a physical presence in either the European Economic Area (EEA), the UK or Switzerland.
Users must provide business registration or incorporation details (unless they’re freelancers or similarly unregistered business owners) as well as proof that their businesses have operating addresses within an acceptable region. Users must also provide their names, addresses, photo IDs and selfies.
Foreigners living in the EEA, UK or Switzerland might be able to fulfill the requirements, but if you live in Canada, you’re out of luck.
While most types of businesses are eligible to open a Revolut account, some are restricted. This includes charities, political organizations, religious organizations as well as companies within certain industries such as weapons, cash-back services, cryptocurrency trading, dating, chemicals, gambling and debt collection, among others.
Revolut business accounts can be used by number of business entities including Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs), Partnerships, Sole Traders (similar to sole proprietors in Canada), Freelancers, Private Unlimited Companies, Private Limited Companies and Public Limited Corporations. The company plans to expand this list over time.
Yes. There are a number of digital banking services in Canada that offer low fees, financial support tools and strong, user-friendly digital platforms. Read our reviews of the companies below to learn more about convenient ways to handle your money online and on your smartphone.
Revolut is a rapidly-growing digital banking app that launched in the UK back in 2015. The app supports both personal and business accounts and offers customers convenient spending options with physical and virtual cards. Revolut also offers low-cost money transfers in 30+ currencies. Customers can save on foreign exchange transactions by trading at Revolut’s interbank exchange rate, which is usually reserved for large forex trades between banks.
Today the online-only banking company has millions of active customers, including hundreds of thousands of business account holders.
Are Revolut personal banking accounts available in Canada?
With a growing number of financial service providers popping up online, narrowing down your options may seem overwhelming. Consider the following points when comparing different online banking services:
Some digital banks like Tangerine offer a wide range of accounts and products and are designed to be customers’ primary banking platform. Other companies may be new to the market or intentionally focusing on offering a few products to service a specific need.
If you have limited and specific financial needs (i.e. transferring money overseas or handling everyday expenses), then you may want to take advantage of a service with limited, yet highly-competitive, offerings. But for more general banking needs, you may want to look for a digital banking service with a variety of products and financial solutions.
Besides saving money by not having fully-staffed, brick-and-mortar branches, digital banking services may also cut down on costs by designing unique pricing tiers for their products. Some examples include monthly or yearly account maintenance fees, foreign transaction fees, money transfer fees or tiered interest rates on credit products. Look for companies that offer low fees and/or interest rates on the products you’ll use the most, and read the fine print to make sure you know what costs to expect.
The most popular digital banking companies tend to have easy, flexible ways of transferring to and from your accounts – including accounts held at other financial institutions. It’s not uncommon to find companies that offer free Interac e-Transfers, email money transfers and bill payments, while some charge a small fee per transaction. Check out customer reviews on sites like the Better Business Bureau and Trustpilot to find out which companies handle customers’ money safely and reliably.
Perhaps the biggest trade-off of banking with a digital company is that you don’t have the familiarity and accessibility of interacting face-to-face with real customer service representatives. Look for companies that offers many ways to connect with support staff including live chat, phone, email and online contact forms. 24/7 availability is a huge plus. At the very least, it can helpful to have access to a robust online database of how-to articles and FAQs for when you can’t get in touch with representatives.
To make comparing even easier we came up with the Finder Score. Interest rates, account fees and features across 50+ savings accounts and 25+ lenders are all weighted and scaled to produce a score out of 10. The higher the score the better the account - simple.
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