Revolut considering dual listing in New York and London, founder says (updated)
UPDATE 1-Revolut considering dual listing in New York and London, founder says Adds detail from interview throughout
PARIS, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Revolut founder and CEO Nik Storonsky said on Thursday that the bank was looking into a dual stock market listing in New York and London, in an interview with French newspaper Les Echos, confirming earlier media reports.
Asked about his company's IPO plans, Storonsky told the paper that Revolut preferred the U.S. because it was a bigger market to find investors, but that in reality the company was considering a dual-listing between the London Stock Exchange and New York's Nasdaq. A spokesperson for Revolut confirmed the report.
Storonsky added that if Revolut grows its brand in the US that could help with a stock market valuation because clients of the bank could participate in the IPO by buying the shares.
Any eventual listing is still likely to be at least a year away, with past media reports citing 2028, and subject to market conditions.
The London-based bank, which offers financial services via an app and has no physical branches, has expanded at breakneck speed since being founded in 2015, with 80 million customers globally. It hit a $75 billion valuation at a share sale in November, making it Europe's most valuable start-up and worth more than many of Europe's best-known high-street lenders.
Revolut told investors it was aiming for a valuation of up to $200 billion in a stock market listing, the Financial Times said in April.
The company received preliminary approval for a national banking licence in the United States in September, after getting licences in Britain and France earlier this year.
The deeper capital markets of the United States and soaring stock prices have lured several British companies to list there, adding to the struggles of London's stock market to attract new businesses.
(Reporting by Nithyashree R B in Bengaluru and Elizabeth Howcroft in Paris; Editing by Nick Zieminski)