Mobile banking services company Revolut has selected a former sardine canning factory in Matosinhos, in the district of Porto, for its second largest unit in Europe. The new customer support site will open by the end of the year, reports Lusa.

The choice of northern Portugal, and specifically Matosinhos, for Revolut’s new unit is explained by the fact that the country has established itself as a “preferential market for large technological companies”, as well as its proximity to universities and the sea. The new digital bank has 6.5 million customers in Europe, of which 250,000 are Portuguese. It expects to invest around EUR 4 million in Portugal over five years and double its customer base there by 2020.

Nik Storonsky, Founder & CEO of Revolut said, “Portugal is quickly emerging itself as a key FinTech hub in Europe, and we’re incredibly proud to be playing our part in that movement, by creating hundreds of new jobs. Last year, during my trip to WebSummit in Lisbon, it became very clear to me that the country was fully embracing all the benefits that financial technology has to offer.”

In addition to the plans to create up to 400 new jobs in the country, Revolut has appointed Ricardo Macieira, the former country manager for Airbnb in Portugal, as Growth manager for Revolut. Ricardo Macieira will be responsible for developing Revolut’s business in the country. He is the co-founder and co-CEO of Alok Design Brands and, since 2015, he has worked as a mentor of entrepreneurship at Startup Lisboa, and has a degree in Design from IADE.

Ricardo Macieira, Country Manager for Revolut Portugal said, “We are very happy to start actively working the Portuguese market. Portugal has been one of the countries with the fastest and most pronounced growth of our platform and our focus will be to accelerate this expansion, as well as to continually work hard to improve our products.

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Sources:
Lusa
Financial Times