Update on Bank Transfer Top-Up Issue 🏦

This week, some users have been experiencing difficulties making bank transfers to their Revolut account. The issue was caused by a temporary update to our banking details, while we tested an upcoming feature, and has affected only a limited number of users. The issue has been contained, but some users may still be affected throughout February, as a small number of banks have yet to update their records.

What’s going on?

In preparation for launching a feature pertaining to our current accounts, Revolut has been working closely with both banks and SWIFT (the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications), making all the necessary tests before we release this feature.

For the purpose of running these tests, we made a temporary update to a SWIFT table. This is essentially a spreadsheet containing Bank Identifier Codes, or BICs, as well as other details which allow the banks to find Revolut accounts whenever our users choose to top up via bank transfer. 🏦

Updating SWIFT tables is a normal banking operation that generally doesn’t affect the end users or their accounts, since these tables are sent to all the banks in the SWIFT system and the details our updated automatically on a daily basis. It works similar to switching bank accounts, where all your direct debits are automatically linked to the new account details.

Ok, so what went wrong?

Soon after the table was updated, we noticed a pattern of unusual activity. Some users weren’t able to make bank transfers into their Revolut accounts as their money would simply bounce back — a sign that something was wrong.

So, we immediately jumped into action to help fix the problem:

1. We contacted SWIFT and changed the BIC code back to the original one, which drastically limited the number of users being affected 💪
2. We created an action group to identify which banks were having issues processing transfers to Revolut, established a way to contact them, and began the process 🚀
3. We informed our customer services teams and devised a plan to deal with the ongoing issue 👨‍🚀

Because we acted quickly, we were able to contain the issue, limiting its impact to a subset of the users attempting to make SEPA transfers from a bank account to their Revolut account.

Unfortunately, some banks have been slow at updating their tables, which means they still have the wrong details for our accounts. These banks do not update their tables daily, but rather monthly, which is why some users may still have issues topping up via bank transfer until the end of the month.

I’ve been affected. What do I need to do?

We are currently working with these banks to update the relevant codes and we’re actively monitoring transfers to help resolve the issue for everyone. Until this is fully dealt with, this is what you need to do to ensure you won’t be affected:

1. Top-up via card to avoid bank transfer top-ups wherever possible. 💳
2. If you do need to top-up via bank transfer, please ask your bank to make a SEPA Credit Transfer to your Revolut account and ensure you are using the correct bank details. The correct BIC, as shown in the app, is REVOGB21. 💱
3. If you’ve already made a transfer which hasn’t reached your Revolut account yet, please ask your bank what’s going on. If they cannot make the transfer, you should ask for them to revert it, placing the funds back into your account. 💰