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Comment by mdekkers | Hacker News Reader

Revolut has a banking license, at least in Europe

In Lithuania. No offense to any Lithuanians reading here, but I do not trust their banking regulators as much as French, German, Dutch, Nordic, etc. Obviously, selecting Lithuania is a clear case of regulatory arbitrage. I still cannot believe people are doing serious business with Revolut. Do you really think the Lithuanian regulators are going to help (catch bad behaviour) during a banking crisis? I have no faith.

I genuinely don’t know where to begin with addressing this level of ignorance. All Central Banks, including the Bank of Lithuania, are governed by the European Central Bank. Passporting works because of an equality principle.

Lithuania has worked hard to become a fintech hub for Europe, and that isn’t based on a poor regulatory regime.

If you can bring actual facts to the table as to why the Lithuania banking license is inferior, we can have a discussion. Now you are just spouting baseless “Lithuania banking license is bad because of Lithuania” nonsense.

How do you explain the 2014 Danske Bank money laundering scandal in Estonia? To be clear: I recognize that Estonia is not Lithuania. My point: Estonia is also a part of EU / Eurozone and its central bank is governed by ECB. That governance did little to nothing to stop the money laundering scandal. It went on for years, which implies incredibly weak enforcement of banking regulations. Outside of the economic majors in EU, I am generally distrustful of banking regulation _enforcement_. Yes, the laws are written, but are they effectively enforced? I doubt it.

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