金融科技 (Financial Technology)

The idea is simple. Go anywhere in the world and have a local bank account with free wire transfers, free currency exchange, and free ATM withdrawals.

这个想法很简单。 遍及世界任何地方，并拥有一个本地银行帐户，可进行免费电汇，免费货币兑换和免费ATM取款。

While this was merely a vision for co-founders Nikolay Storonsky and Vlad Yatsenko back in 2015, today, with over 12 million users, Revolut is reinventing how we spend and transfer money abroad.

虽然这只是2015年联合创始人Nikolay Storonsky和Vlad Yatsenko的愿景，但如今拥有超过1200万用户的Revolut正在重塑我们如何在国外消费和转账。

起点 (The Beginnings)

Storonsky was working as a derivatives trader at Credit Suisse’s London office, where he met Yatsenko — a software engineer building financial systems for the bank.

Storonsky在瑞士信贷(Credit Suisse)的伦敦办公室担任衍生品交易员，在那里他遇到了Yatsenko，他是为该银行建立财务系统的软件工程师。

Storonsky’s job required frequent traveling, and as a professional in the financial markets, he was well aware of the astronomical fees he was being charged for converting to local currencies. The same day he received a British passport — he’s a Russian native — he quit his job at Credit Suisse to change that.

Storonsky的工作需要经常旅行，并且作为金融市场的专业人士，他非常清楚自己转换为当地货币所要支付的天文费用。 同一天，他获得了英国护照-他是俄罗斯人-他辞去了瑞士信贷银行的工作，以改变这一状况。

Frustrated with the lack of app-based banking services, Yatsenko soon followed, teaming up to combine his tech-savvy with Storonsky’s drive to co-found Revolut in 2015.

由于缺乏基于应用程序的银行服务而感到沮丧，Yatsenko紧随其后，将他精通技术的团队与Storonsky于2015年共同创立Revolut的努力结合在一起。

传统支付模式 (The Traditional Payments Model)

Commercial banks have been profiting from hefty transaction fees for decades. The regulatory frameworks surrounding banking licenses have allowed them to charge customers for basic services like ATM withdrawals, wire transfers, and currency exchanges.

商业银行数十年来一直从高额交易费中获利。 围绕银行牌照的监管框架允许他们向客户收取基本服务的费用，例如ATM取款，电汇和货币兑换。

Even before that stage, opening a bank account is a hassle. You need to visit a branch, complete the client onboarding, and verify the account a couple days later. The process is tedious, time-consuming, and somewhat outdated.

甚至在那个阶段之前，开设银行帐户都是一件麻烦事。 您需要访问分支机构，完成客户入职培训，并在几天后验证该帐户。 该过程繁琐，耗时且有些过时。

Nowadays, industry newcomers like Monzo, Starling Bank, and Revolut have streamlined the process, allowing you to open an account just using your phone.

如今，Monzo，Starling Bank和Revolut等行业新手已经简化了这一过程，使您可以仅使用手机就可以开设一个帐户。

Here’s an insightful chart comparing the number of clicks per bank to open an account in the UK. It’s no coincidence the top three are startups.

这是一个有见地的图表，比较了每个银行在英国开设帐户的点击次数。 排名前三的是初创公司，这并非巧合。

For all the bureaucracy that’s associated with a traditional bank, they do bring certain benefits, such as government-backed deposits (Revolut now offers this in certain countries), higher borrowing amounts, and an established brand conveying trust.

对于与传统银行有关的所有官僚机构，它们确实带来了某些好处，例如政府支持的存款(Revolut现在在某些国家/地区提供这种服务)，更高的借贷额度以及建立了品牌的信任度。

Revolut如何造成破坏？ (How is Revolut being disruptive?)

Unlike traditional banks, Revolut charges no currency exchange fees (available in 30+ currencies), no wire transfer fees, and no ATM withdrawal fees (up to €200 per month).

与传统银行不同，Revolut不收取货币兑换费(可用30种以上的货币提供)，电汇费和ATM取款费(每月最高200欧元)。

So if you have a US Revolut account and you go on a trip to Spain, you can pay for everything with your card, wire transfer internationally, and withdraw money from local ATMs, all at zero fees.

因此，如果您拥有美国Revolut帐户并前往西班牙旅行，则可以用卡支付所有费用，进行国际电汇以及从本地ATM取款，费用均为零。

Additional features that differentiate them are free trading, travel insurance, and split payments. Some of these features are direct competition with US startups such as Robinhood (free trading platform), and Venmo (free shared payments).

使它们与众不同的其他功能是免费交易，旅行保险和分期付款。 其中一些功能是与美国初创公司的直接竞争，例如Robinhood (免费交易平台)和Venmo (免费共享付款)。

As for how they’re managing to disrupt a notoriously rigid industry, Revolut co-founder and CEO says the following:

至于他们如何设法破坏一个臭名昭著的僵化行业，Revolut的联合创始人兼首席执行官表示：

“If you want a product to be sold in huge quantities with zero marketing it has to be 10x cheaper, 10x better, as simple as that. So that’s what we do.” — Nikolay Storonsky

“如果您想以零营销大量销售产品，那么它必须便宜10倍，好10倍，就这么简单。 这就是我们要做的。” —尼古拉·斯托伦斯基

Looking at specific reasons, remaining flexible, having no brick-and-mortar stores, and handling no physical cash have likely contributed to their success.

从特定的原因来看，保持灵活性，没有实体商店和不处理任何现金都可能有助于其成功。

破坏是有代价的 (Disruption comes at a cost)

Swimming against the tide is, by definition, a challenge. As with any startup, Revolut hasn’t been spared of setbacks and controversies.

从定义上讲，顺应潮流是一个挑战。 与任何初创企业一样，Revolut并没有幸免挫折和争议。

Financially, they’ve yet to make a profit after five years operating. Having raised over $500 million — valuing them at $5.5 billion — has kept them afloat in the meantime. Yet looking at other industry disruptors, Uber, Snapchat, and Spotify all stand out for being unprofitable despite higher valuations.

在财务上，他们在运营五年后仍未盈利。 筹集了超过5亿美元的资金，使它们的市值达到55亿美元，与此同时，它们也得以持续发展。 然而，看看其他行业颠覆者，尽管估值较高，Uber，Snapchat和Spotify都无利可图。

Revolut’s hiring efforts came under fire in 2019 after asking applicants to recruit at least 200 new customers to have a chance at getting the job. Basically, the company was taking advantage of candidates by having them do unpaid work. Revolut later rectified and removed this task.

Revolut的招聘工作 在要求申请人至少招募200名新客户有机会获得这份工作后，该公司在2019年遭到抨击。 基本上，公司是通过让候选人从事无薪工作来利用候选人。 Revolut随后纠正并删除了此任务。

Most recently, amid the Coronavirus pandemic, Revolut has potentially breached employment laws by pressuring some employees to chose between being terminated for underperformance or leaving on their own accord by mutual agreement.

最近，在冠状病毒大流行中，Revolut迫使某些员工在因表现不佳而被解雇或经双方同意自行离职之间选择，有可能违反雇佣法。

热门美食 (Top Takeaways)

• An inherently superior product doesn’t need marketing. Instead, to gain customers, focus on ease of use, fast onboarding, and quality products.本质上优越的产品不需要营销。 相反，要赢得客户，请专注于易用性，快速入门和优质产品。
• Startup ideas can arise anywhere. Going from idea to execution is the hard part. As Steve Jobs put it: “To me, ideas are worth nothing unless executed. They are just a multiplier. Execution is worth millions.”创业创意可以随处出现。 从想法到执行是困难的部分。 正如史蒂夫·乔布斯(Steve Jobs)所说：“对我而言，除非执行，否则创意一文不值。 它们只是一个乘数。 执行价值数百万。”
• Creating a disruptive company is an uphill battle. There’s bound to be difficulties, or else someone would have already done it.创建一家颠覆性的公司是艰巨的战斗。 一定会有困难，否则有人会做到的。

While there are “challenger” banks offering similar products — namely Monzo, Sterling Bank, and N26 — Revolut’s aggressive expansion efforts seem to be leading the pack.

尽管有“挑战者”银行提供类似的产品，例如Monzo，Sterling Bank和N26，但Revolut积极的扩张努力似乎正在领先。

As it transitions from a startup to a fully-fledged bank, will Revolut live up to the hype?

当Revolut从一家初创公司过渡到一家成熟的银行时，它会如实宣传吗？