Revolut wins Argentina approval to buy Banco Cetelem

Revolut has cleared a regulatory hurdle in Argentina, but the fintech still must complete the acquisition and carry out further operational work before it can launch banking products to Argentine customers. On 24 September 2026, the London-founded fintech said the Central Bank of the Argentine Republic (BCRA) had approved its acquisition of Banco Cetelem Argentina S.A. from BNP Paribas Personal Finance. The approval lets Revolut move towards completing a deal first announced in June 2025. It does not mean the transaction has closed, and no available announcement states that it changes the accounts, terms or protections held by Revolut's UK customers, who are served by separate UK legal entities.

For a UK audience, the news matters as a marker of Revolut's wider push to build licensed banking operations market by market, under the same group brand that serves UK customers. Revolut's UK business operates through separate, PRA- and FCA-regulated entities with their own protections.

What the regulator approved, and what it didn't

The BCRA's approval permits Revolut and BNP Paribas Personal Finance to proceed with completing the sale of Banco Cetelem Argentina. It is not confirmation that the deal has closed. Revolut's own announcement uses future and conditional language throughout — describing what will happen "after completion" and what is "expected" once the transaction closes — and no source reviewed for this article establishes that closing had occurred by 28 September 2026.

No transaction-specific BCRA decision or press release was independently located; the strongest evidence for the approval is Revolut's own statement, corroborated by Bloomberg Línea, Reuters (as republished by London South East) and La Nación. Reporting on the original 2025 agreement dates the announcement to 26 June 2025, though La Nación's later coverage refers to July 2025; this article uses the earlier, contemporaneously reported date.

The purchase price has not been disclosed. Reuters reported undisclosed terms when the deal was first announced in June 2025, and Bloomberg Línea repeated that the amount remained undisclosed at the September 2026 approval stage.

What Banco Cetelem adds

Buying an existing bank gives Revolut a banking entity that is already supervised by the BCRA. Banco Cetelem Argentina S.A. remained listed by the Argentine central bank as a supervised financial entity in material accessible on 28 September 2026. Once the acquisition completes, Revolut plans to rename the institution Revolut Bank Argentina S.A.U.

Bloomberg Línea reported that the deal does not carry over Banco Cetelem's historic customers — a detail not stated in Revolut's own announcement and not confirmed by an official filing, so it should be read as reported rather than established fact.

No immediate launch for Argentine customers

Revolut has been explicit that the acquisition does not translate into an immediate product launch. The company said the Argentine bank will remain a regulated entity but will not initially offer products or services to the public. Before any customer-facing launch, Revolut expects to complete continuing regulatory, capital, infrastructure and operational work — the standard groundwork for standing up a bank's local operations, distinct from the approval already granted.

Revolut said more than 150,000 people had joined its Argentine waitlist as of 24 September 2026. That figure is company-reported and has not been independently audited in the material reviewed for this article. No launch date has been announced.

On management, Revolut said Agustín Danza is expected to become chief executive of the Argentine bank after closing, though that appointment remains subject to further standard approval by the BCRA. Juan Marotta, a former chief executive of HSBC Argentina and HSBC South America, has been named chairman of the local board.

Part of a wider Latin American push

Revolut describes the Cetelem acquisition as part of a strategy to build a licensed banking footprint across Latin America — the company's own characterisation of its strategy rather than an independent assessment of how the plan will play out. Confirmed, comparable operating detail on Revolut's presence in other regional markets was not available in the sources reviewed for this article, so it does not draw comparisons beyond what Revolut itself has said about Argentina.

What this means for UK customers

The Argentine deal is scoped to Argentina. No available announcement states that it changes UK customer terms, services, account ownership or regulatory protections, and the UK entities involved are legally separate from the Argentine one.

Revolut Bank UK Ltd was listed by the Bank of England as a UK-incorporated bank authorised to accept deposits, under firm reference number 981170, in the Bank's September 2026 list of PRA-regulated firms. Revolut launched this unrestricted UK bank on 11 March 2026 and has since been moving eligible UK customers from Revolut Ltd e-money accounts into Revolut Bank UK Ltd current accounts on a gradual basis.

That migration matters because protection depends on which entity and which product actually holds a customer's money, not on the Revolut brand as a whole:

Revolut says customers can check which entity serves their account, and by extension which protection applies, within the app. A reader should not assume every balance visible in the Revolut app carries FSCS cover; the position depends on the specific product and entity, and readers with questions about their own account should refer to Revolut's own account terms or the FSCS rather than infer coverage from this article.

What to watch next

The near-term milestones sit in Argentina, not the UK. They include: formal completion of the acquisition; publication or confirmation of the underlying BCRA decision, which was not located during research for this article; the rename to Revolut Bank Argentina S.A.U.; BCRA approval of Agustín Danza's appointment as chief executive; and any announcement of a public launch date and initial product range for Argentine customers. UK customers who want to confirm which protection regime applies to their balance can check which entity serves their account in the app and refer to Revolut's account terms or the FSCS.