Revolut is making its boldest move yet into emerging markets, simultaneously pursuing banking licences in South Africa and Morocco through parallel strategies led by executives with deep local expertise. The dual-market approach reveals both ambition and pragmatism as the London-based fintech navigates the continent’s fragmented regulatory landscape.

The company has formally submitted its Section 12 application to South Africa’s Prudential Authority — the first step towards establishing a fully licensed bank. In Morocco, it’s taking a more gradual approach, beginning as a payment operator before seeking a full banking licence within two years.

What’s striking is the calibre of leadership Revolut has assembled. Rather than parachuting in European executives, the company has appointed industry heavyweights with decades of experience navigating the precise regulatory and competitive challenges it will face.

The establishment figure: Dr Gaby Magomola

In South Africa, Revolut has appointed Dr Gaby Magomola as chairman of its local subsidiary, effective January 2026. The choice sends an unmistakable signal: this is not a quick land-grab but a long-term commitment requiring regulatory credibility.

Magomola’s CV reads like a history of South African banking. A former political prisoner who spent six years on Robben Island alongside Nelson Mandela, he later earned a Fulbright Scholarship to study in the US, where he worked on Wall Street and at Citibank’s global headquarters. Upon returning to South Africa in the mid-1980s, he held senior positions at Citibank, Barclays and First National Bank before becoming CEO of African Bank.

More recently, Magomola served as deputy chairman of the Development Bank of Southern Africa and sits on numerous corporate boards. He holds an honorary doctorate in commerce and economics and is widely regarded as one of the architects of Black Economic Empowerment in South Africa.

“His strategic counsel will be critical in navigating the local regulatory environment,” says Jacques Meyer, CEO of Revolut South Africa. The subtext is clear: securing a banking licence in South Africa is notoriously difficult, and Magomola’s relationships and reputation may prove decisive.

The operator: Jacques Meyer

Meyer himself brings operational experience that complements Magomola’s strategic weight. Appointed CEO of Revolut South Africa in May 2025, Meyer previously spent two years as an executive at Commercial International Bank in Egypt, the country’s largest private-sector bank, where he led the launch of Zaidi, the bank’s greenfield digital banking venture.

Before that, Meyer held senior roles at Discovery Bank as head of product (2019–2022), TymeBank as chief operating officer (2015–2018), and the South African Revenue Service as a group executive (2006–2015). He also spent five years at McKinsey & Company.

This background matters. Meyer has direct experience launching digital banks in South Africa — Discovery Bank reached one million customers by September 2024, while TymeBank achieved a $1.5bn valuation. He knows the competitive landscape intimately and understands the operational challenges of building regulated financial services in emerging markets.

“South Africans are ready for a new approach to banking,” Meyer said when the application was announced. “The market is primed for disruption.”

The North African play: Yacine Faqir and Amine Berrada

In Morocco, Revolut is taking a different tack. Rather than applying immediately for a full banking licence, it plans to enter first as a payment operator — a lower regulatory bar — and build from there.

Leading this effort is Yacine Faqir, appointed CEO of Revolut Morocco in early November 2025. Faqir joins from Mastercard, where he served as vice president of products and solutions for North and Francophone Africa. His remit at Mastercard included consumer payments, SME offerings, tokenisation and new payment flows across the region.

Earlier in his career, Faqir helped establish Dun & Bradstreet’s credit bureau in Morocco and has advised the World Bank and several fintechs on regulatory and credit-market development across Africa. In other words, he has extensive experience working with Morocco’s central bank, Bank Al-Maghrib — precisely the institution Revolut must convince to grant it a licence.

Supporting Faqir is Amine Berrada, appointed head of strategy and operations in August 2025. Berrada previously served as general manager for Uber in Southern and Eastern Europe. While his background is in ride-hailing rather than financial services, he brings experience scaling platform businesses in complex regulatory environments.

The Morocco appointments came just months apart, suggesting Revolut is moving quickly to build local capacity.

Why these markets matter

South Africa and Morocco are not random choices. They represent the continent’s two most sophisticated financial markets — one in sub-Saharan Africa, the other in North Africa — with fundamentally different regulatory regimes and customer bases.

South Africa offers a large, banked population (around 85% of adults have accounts), a well-developed regulatory framework, and a diversified economy. It’s also highly competitive: TymeBank, Discovery Bank and Bank Zero have all gained traction, while the big four traditional banks — Standard Bank, Absa, Nedbank and FirstRand — remain dominant.

Morocco, meanwhile, offers a massive diaspora opportunity. Over five million Moroccans live abroad, sending substantial remittances home — a core use case for Revolut’s cross-border payment capabilities. The country is also preparing to co-host the 2030 FIFA World Cup, which is expected to accelerate digital payment adoption.

But Morocco presents unique challenges. The dirham is non-convertible, and the Office des Changes enforces strict capital controls, capping outbound transfers at roughly $10,000 annually per person. This directly conflicts with Revolut’s core value proposition of seamless international money movement.

Revolut will also face formidable local competition. Cash Plus, founded in 2004 as a money transfer operator, has evolved into a financial services powerhouse with 8,000 branches — double its nearest competitor — and processed over $10bn in transactions in 2023. The company recently launched an $82 million IPO bid to secure the necessary funding to accelerate its digital transformation and announced that non-residents can now open accounts using just a passport, targeting the diaspora market Revolut covets.

The test ahead

Revolut’s African expansion comes at a critical moment. The company reported 52.5 million retail customers and £3.1bn in revenue in 2024, with a 59% year-on-year increase in users treating it as their primary bank. It’s pursuing a $75bn valuation and plans to enter 30 new markets by 2030.

But Africa will test whether Revolut’s European playbook translates to emerging markets. In the past, the company has entered new territories with limited regulatory approvals — e-money or payment licences — which restricted its product offering. CEO Nik Storonsky has acknowledged this approach produced “a worse product” and pledged to pursue full banking licences going forward.

The question is whether Revolut can move fast enough to gain traction while satisfying notoriously cautious regulators. In South Africa, no foreign banking licence has been issued easily in recent years. In Morocco, no new foreign banking licence has been granted in over a decade.

This is where Revolut’s leadership choices become critical. Magomola’s relationships with South African regulators and Meyer’s operational experience building digital banks locally provide clear advantages. In Morocco, Faqir’s regulatory expertise and Berrada’s scaling experience offer a plausible path through what will be a marathon negotiation.

The hires suggest Revolut has learned from past mistakes. Rather than treating Africa as a single market or assuming its European brand carries weight, it’s investing in local leadership with the credibility and expertise to navigate each country’s unique challenges.

Whether that’s enough remains to be seen. But by putting seasoned operators in charge rather than simply appointing country managers, Revolut has at least given itself a fighting chance in two of the continent’s most important — and most difficult — financial markets.