Dive Brief:

• Revolut named Sid Jajodia CEO of the neobank’s U.S. arm, the company announced Thursday. 
• The move represents an expansion of responsibilities for Jajodia, who will continue to serve as the company’s chief banking officer, a role he’s held since July 2021.
• In the expanded role, Jajodia will be tasked with leading the rollout of Revolut’s international banking operations, as well as accelerating the company’s growth in the U.S., the neobank said.

Dive Insight:

“We are delighted to announce Sid’s appointment as US CEO. Sid has been instrumental in building our Global Banking offer, which will help him and the team accelerate our growth in the US,” Nik Storonsky, CEO and co-founder of Revolut, said in a statement. 

Prior to joining Revolut, Jajodia was CEO of credit at payment service provider PayU. He spent 4½ years at LendingClub, where his roles included vice president for risk management and chief investment officer.

He also spent 12 years at Capital One in various positions, including senior vice president and head of small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) lending.

Revolut, which claims to have nearly a half-million active users in the U.S., has been trying to gain a foothold in the region since its official U.S. launch in March 2020, the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The pandemic impacted Revolut’s rollout; the neobank launched without the fanfare it had shown in other markets, former Revolut USA CEO Ron Oliveira told Banking Dive last year.

Oliveira left the fintech in January to become the CEO of Bellevue, Washington-based Moonstone Bank, according to his LinkedIn profile. 

Revolut has 150 employees in offices in New York City, San Francisco and Dallas, and is actively recruiting in the U.S., the company said. In March, Revolut announced it hired Yuval Rechter as general manager and Danil Ovechkin as head of growth to help with its U.S. marketing and expansion efforts.

To gain an edge in the competitive U.S. market, Revolut is seeking a bank charter.

The company submitted a draft application with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) and the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation in March 2021 to obtain a banking license in the U.S.

The company chose to apply for a charter in California thanks to the state’s close ties with the fintech industry, Oliveira told Banking Dive in August.

Revolut launched in the U.K. in 2015, offering money transfer and exchange services. The neobank claims it has 18 million customers that make more than 150 million transactions a month.

In April, the company announced a partnership with Fort Lee, New Jersey-based Cross River Bank to offer personal loans to its U.S. consumers.

Revolut, which is already partnering with New York-based Metropolitan Commercial Bank to offer digital banking services in the U.S., said it is leveraging Cross River’s technology and regulatory expertise to scale and expand across business verticals including credit.