Europe’s financial innovators are coming to America from more than one direction.

After moving from Los Angeles to Spain last January, I quickly realized that most of the innovation in finance is happening in Europe. This means a major change in how consumers manage and spend money in their daily lives.

UK-based fintech Revolut recently applied for a US bank charter with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp and hopes to establish a banking presence there next year with high-yield savings and checking accounts; Access to stablecoins, multi-currency deposits; Trade in Stocks and Crypto; And access to ATM network (no physical branch).

But JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon simultaneously loves, respects, and envies Revolut, but I’m not entirely sure the banking and fintech establishments are ready for the full-scale entry of neobanks into the US.

enter santander

As far as I believe, Revolut – not to mention Banc – is building the future of finance in America from EuropeAnother, less discussed name could present a significant challenge. Put another way: You can’t talk about the neobanks fueling personal finance in the US without including Banco Centro SA in the conversation.

In other words, fintech alone may not be the most meaningful competitive challenge for US banks.

Understanding why starts with one of the first questions reverse skeptics and banking incumbents around the world like to float: Can a company become a primary financial nexus without being a major loan underwriter?

It is difficult for fintechs to build a lending business, said Felipe Penacoba Martínez, CEO of Getnet platform Payments Hub (a Shandong company) and former CIO of Revolut Bank (EU). global finance. “Revolut knows this takes time,” he said, “and they are moving slower than other sectors.”

Despite serving millions of customers globally and holding approximately $67 billion in customer balances, Revolut’s loan book remains a fraction of that figure. Then, according to the company’s 2025 report, its consumer lending business is also growing rapidly: up 120% year over year to $2.9 billion.

By banking standards, Revolut’s loan-to-deposit ratio remains small, but its loan segment is no longer theoretical. What matters is whether fintechs can scale banking capabilities faster than banks’ digital ecosystem.

Penacoba Martínez points to his children, all three of whom use Revolut, and that they have no need the company can’t meet. “The big banks are seeing how neobanks are taking market share, especially among younger generations,” he says, “and as these users eventually look for mortgages and more complex investment products, Revolut wants to meet those needs.”

At the end of the day, whether easy lending is a competitive barrier is a question that keepers of the status quo ask when faced with disruptive business models. Radio people rejected streaming. Early Amazon.com Inc. Skeptics pointed to the online retailer’s lack of profitability. Blockbuster Video mocks $50 million offer to buy Netflix Inc. History is full of established players evaluating the future through the lens of the present.

The question of lending becomes more useful as a lens than a decision. Is it easier for fintechs to build the lending, deposits and infrastructure traditionally associated with banks? Or is it easier for banks to create the customer experiences, payments capabilities and digital ecosystems that make fintech disruptive?

OpenBank Advantage

Centro’s profits far exceed its balance sheet. Through OpenBank, Getnet and its broader technology transformation efforts, the bank is gathering many of the same capabilities that fintechs have spent years developing from scratch and combining them with infrastructure that many challengers still outsource or access through partners.

Traditional banks realize the threat from fintechs like Revolut and need to take action, Penacoba Martínez said, but the challenge is in implementation.

“We all know we need to build a modern tech stack that is easy to integrate, but how do you do that?” He added. “It’s easy to build, but decades of history, legacy systems and mindsets are the hard part. It’s too complex for incumbents because of time. The situation gets worse with every year that passes. The risk of something breaking is a bigger challenge for big banks than fintechs.”

Inside Centro, the approach has been to prove out new systems internally before scaling them more widely. As Penacoba Martínez describes, the challenge is not just to create something new; It continues to improve even after launch. Payments became the first testing ground at Santander, with approximately 70% of group payments now running through Getnet.

The same logic applies to OpenBank as well. Ana Botín, executive chairwoman of Symantec, has made clear that she wants the platform to reach millions of accounts in the coming years, including in the US, as “a digital bank with branches.”

When I asked Penacoba Martínez if these efforts put Centro in direct competition with Revolut, his answer was simple: Yes.

For all the attention given to Revolut’s 2027 full-scale launch in the US, one of the more consequential battles could see the two companies heading from opposite directions toward similar destinations.

Lifestyle Brands vs. Global Banks

A fintech bank is building capabilities but marketing itself as a lifestyle brand; Second, a global bank that is adopting a fintech mindset and taking advantage of the benefits that fintechs have not yet replicated. The lesson for incumbents in the US and around the world: None of these models exist in isolation.

Revolut, Symantec, Banc, Nubank and others are part of a broader wave of foreign challengers attempting to gain market share in the world’s most lucrative banking market.

Having helped build products inside Revolut and now helping modernize a global banking group, Penacoba Martínez has seen both journeys firsthand. Listening to his description, it becomes difficult to ignore one conclusion: time helps one side and hurts the other.

Like a young athlete, fintechs have room to grow aggressively right from the start; They don’t think about boundaries. For older players, each year increases the pressure to move forward without breaking what they have already established.

There is no doubt that the competitive threat to American finances from abroad is real. It remains unclear whether US banks really appreciate how much of it is coming from all directions.

Rocco Pendola is a contributing reporter based in Spain.