Blik, owned by Polish Payment Standard, an alliance of Polish banks backed by Mastercard, has become a leading cashless payment system, growing to have over 16.5 million users since its inception in 2015.
The Blik system allows transfers by phone after linking a phone number with a bank account. Customers receive a six-figure code to validate a transaction, which expires after two minutes.
The Rzeczpospolita daily, citing insiders at Polish Payment Standard and Revolut, reported that trials of Blik’s codes on the Revolut financial platform are underway.
Blik capabilities on Revolut’s mobile service are expected to be officially launched by the end of the year.
Revolut, which has been called the U.K.’s biggest start-up, could be a conduit for Blik’s user base growth abroad.
Blik technology has just been launched in Slovakia in conjunction with Raiffeisen’s Slovak subsidiary - Tatra Banka.
Earlier, Blik moved into the United Arab Emirates. However, the Polish service's next European foray - into Romania, where it set up shop in 2023 - is still awaiting official approval.
Piggybacking on Revolut’s Europe-wide network of clients could be a faster route to international growth.
Now preparing for an IPO on the London Stock Exchange, Revolut, which announced notching up its 40 millionth customer in March, is planning further expansion.
The financial platform has grown from offering prepaid online debit cards and foreign exchange into a British-registered bank as of August.
Revolut’s Eastern European roots
In its description, Blik’s potential U.K. partner accentuates its Britishness at the expense of its Eastern European roots. Like Blik, Revolut was founded in 2015, but by a Russian, Nik Storonsky, and a Ukrainian, Vlad Yatsenko, both based in London with U.K. citizenship, according to their online bios.
The British banking license followed Lithuanian registration in 2018, which gave the start-up the status of an EU-registered bank.
In the run-up to the fintech gaining its license from the authorities in Vilnius, controversy erupted. Those opposing the license pointed to Revolut's financing from Target, a venture capital fund then run by Alexander Frolov, son of the sanctioned Russian oligarch of the same name.
However, Asian investment giants Tiger Global and Softbank have been the major financial investors since 2021.
In 2022, after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Storonsky, whose father is a top Gazprom director, publicly renounced his Russian nationality.
Revolut joined other U.K.-registered banks in freezing the assets of Russian oligarchs and debanking prominent Russians in league with the Kremlin.
Blik's management have not commented on the link-up with Revolut.
