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Fintech & E-commerce
December 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 18
IT and communications sector. "The share of information and communication technologies in Azerbaijan’s non-oil exports is increasing. The GDP of information and communication services grew by more than 40% over the period from 2016
to 2019. In January-September 2019, $30.2mn worth of services were exported, which is 81% more compared to the same period of 2018," Gasimli said.
Fintech company Revolut expects 1mn users in Romania
British fintech company Revolut has seen its number of users in Romania growing beyond expectations, according to Irina Scarlat, the platform’s director for Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), quoted by Profit.ro.
Revolut has about 850,000 customers in Romania at the moment and could reach 1mn users by the end of this year — twice as many as the initial estimate, said Scarlat. Revolut has made a major impact in the banking industry even if the banks avoid admitting it, she commented.
“When I came to the company a year and a half ago, we had 20,000 users. Now we are approaching 1mn. The goal was to reach 500,000 by the end of this year,” Scarlat said at a conference organised by
the Competition Council and Romania’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIR).
Scarlat added that Revolut started from the idea of offering an attractive exchange rate for people traveling, given that banks had 2-10% commissions on foreign exchange transactions, and then it developed.
“What has Revolut's entry into the market brought? Banks have accelerated their digitisation efforts. Even if they don’t officially consider us competitors, they have launched digital products and tried to digitise the banking experience,” explains Scarlat, who previously worked as a marketing manager for Uber in Romania.