Arival meets Revolut at Japan’s largest fintech summit
On September 26, Jeremy Berger presented Arival Bank at Fin/Sum2018, held in Tokyo. Arival was selected as one of the top 30 startups to pitch in front of executives from 500 Startups, SBI, MUFG, and other leading investment & financial institutions.
During his speech, Jeremy presented an analysis on the comprehensive digital banking landscape and how Arival intends to disrupt the playing field by targeting a new generation of SMEs & GIGs.
Arival received positive reception after introducing several key elements of the bank including an open API base that allows seamless integration of 3rd party fintechs into the platform (ArivalOS), robust KYC/AML technology, and a borderless banking approach enabling business onboarding from anywhere in the world.
On the first day of the summit, Jeremy also had a chance to chat with Revolut’s CEO, Nik Storonsky, a pioneer in the digital banking industry. Nik confirmed that Revolut onboards crypto businesses only for their corporate spending, but they will not allow them to hold their client money on Revolut account.
Revolut recently made news with the decision to seek a full banking license in Lithuania rather than in the UK, and apply for an additional e-money license in Luxembourg, contrary to their original plans.
While Arival Bank is interested in a similar opportunity, its primary focus remains to get a banking license in the U.S., with an aim to become the first 100% digital bank for SMEs in the US operating under its own banking
licence.