Stripe rival Adyen secures banking license in Great Britain

Dutch payments giant Adyen announced on Thursday that it had received approval for a banking license in the UK, marking a stronger foray into the banking sector by the company.

The company said its new license would allow its dealers to offer cash advances to small and medium-sized businesses in the UK

Crucially, Adyen said the license would allow it to continue operating post-Brexit under the UK Temporary Authorization Scheme, under which it can offer services in line with its EU business.

Adyen already has a license as an acquiring bank in the Netherlands. This allows the company to process merchant payments almost instantly, rather than relying on banking partners to process payments that can often take several days.

Adyen’s UK merchants can already offer their customers bank accounts, virtual or physical cards, cash flow and expense management.

“The UK is a key market for Adyen and we are pleased to strengthen our position here with this banking approval,” said Mariëtte Swart, Adyen’s Chief Legal and Compliance Officer.

“It will strengthen our ability to help domestic and international companies achieve their goals faster. It is another step towards making Adyen a comprehensive global financial technology platform.”

A competitor to US payments giant Stripe, Adyen is one of Europe’s largest tech companies with a market cap of €23.4 billion ($25 billion). The company is rebounding after first-half earnings showed the slowest revenue growth on record.

The company’s shares fell as much as 39% on August 31, losing 18 billion euros from the company’s market value. Shares of Adyen fell about 1% on Thursday.

Adyen’s approval comes as one of the UK’s largest fintechs, Revolut, is struggling to get a license from the Bank of England. Revolut applied for a license two years ago but faced numerous delays. Regulators had numerous concerns to address, including the company’s late filing of financial statements and internal corporate culture issues.

Revolut says it has been working to improve its culture internally. Also, the company’s chief financial officer, who was at the helm at the time of the delayed reporting, had to leave the company earlier in the year.