Yahoo Finance Revolut crowned most searched online bank in Europe
Revolut has been crowned as the most searched online bank in Europe, new research has found.
A new study by betting broker CMC Markets found that the London-based lender came out on top, with the most searches in 25 countries.
The fintech firm was co-founded by Russian-born Nikolay Storonsky and Ukrainian Vlad Yatsenko in July 2015.
It had more than 923,000 average monthly searches in total throughout Europe.
It was also the most Googled (GOOG) overall, being first in 15 countries, including Germany and Spain with over 71,000 monthly searches each.
In second place was another UK-based fintech company Wise (WISE.L).
Read more: Cashless society: Cash could disappear from the UK by 2026
Wise was the second most searched online bank in 18 countries, including Hungary, Greece and Portugal. Overall it had over 338,000 average monthly searches in Europe.
The money transfer company, which was formerly known as TransferWise, floated in a record-breaking London listing in July 2021. It was one of the biggest flotations of that year, and the largest London tech listing in history.
It made its stock market debut via a direct listing rather than selling shares at a set price in advance.
This meant that the opening price was determined in an open auction on the date of admission to the London Stock Exchange (LSEG.L). In direct listings, companies sell shares directly to the public without getting help from intermediaries.
Wise was founded by Estonian businessmen Kristo Käärmann and Taavet Hinrikus in January 2011.
German bank N26, founded by Valentin Stalf and Maximilian Tayenthal in 2013, came in third place, according to CMC. N26 is a neobank — a digital bank without branches.
N26 was the most searched in four countries, Andorra, Austria, San Marino and Slovenia.
Rounding out the top 10 were mBank (MBK.WA), Hype, Curve, Lunar, Kard, Tunkoff and Monese.
It comes as research from payment processing comparison website Merchant Machine showed that cash usage dropped from 50% in 2004 to 14.96% in 2019.
They said that using "forecast linear data" they can "predict that cash usage in the UK will reach 0%" by as soon as 2026.
This is partly due to the coronavirus pandemic which saw retailers and shoppers opting for contactless card payments or e-wallets to curb transmission of the virus.
The report found that 47% of the UK would find a cashless society problematic. A further 17% stated that they were unsure of how they would cope or if they would be able to cope at all.
