Revolut RevTag launches to take on Swift cross border dominance

Revolut has announced the launch of RevTag, its instant and free payments ecosystem, to Revolut Business customers.

Revolut RevTag launches to take on Swift

The RevTags feature will enable customers to send and receive instant zero-fee cross-border payments to 150 countries and regions around the world, more than 29 currencies, 30 million retail users and hundreds of thousands of businesses.

RevTags simplify global payments by allowing businesses to make transactions by entering the RevTag of an individual or business in the Revolut Business app, without the need to add IBANs or additional beneficiary details.

The launch of RevTag for Business comes as a new survey conducted by 72Point for Revolut Business found that almost 9 in 10 (87%) UK businesses identify facilitation of payments (sending, receiving and foreign exchange) as the biggest financial challenge currently facing their business.

Survey data shows that high costs and processing times are contributing to this challenge:

• Just one in ten businesses report being able to make instant cross-border payments. Payments typically take more than 12 hours to process for the majority of respondents (58%).
• Cross-border payments often incur hidden costs, with other networks such as SWIFT relying on intermediary banks to process payments.
• More than 2 in 3 (71%) businesses in the UK reported paying fees of 3% or more on cross border payments.
• One in ten (13%) businesses pay fees of 6% or more, which can take a heavy toll on business finances in the current economic climate.

Revolut’s research also reveals a broader desire for more efficient and cost-effective ways to make global payments.

When looking for payment solutions, almost half (48%) of UK businesses said cost and speed of payments were the two most important factors they considered.

97% of businesses said the availability of cross-border payment solutions was an important factor in picking which account provider to use.

In addition to RevTags, Revolut Business customers in the UK will also have access to pay out links, which enable payments to customers and suppliers using just a URL, without the need for account details.

Each pay out link provides the recipient with options on how they would like to be paid and allows Revolut Business customers to track and manage the payment from their account.