Revolut is discontinuing its Canadian beta program

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Such a bad news, sadly true tho :dizzy_face: Just received an email from Revolut announcing immediate discontinuation. Me and my wife really relied on that. What are the best alternative for Canadians to travel abroad?

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@ihackalot itā€™s a shame man. Sorry to hear. From reading it seems that it was hard to get a banking LC. But also it seems Koho is the Revolut of Canada. I was reading their saving /interest feature and gotta be honest, Iā€™m jelly of it. They did say it may come back in time which I hope it does. Canada is an amazing country and as a European working as a partner to Shopify, there is a lot of people there who would try Revolut I feel.

3

Should we start trolling KOHO with question - when are you going to open in my country? [insert your country here] :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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Dear KOHO,

When are you going to open in my country? The Netherlands

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ā€œBanking licenses in Canada are notoriously difficult for newcomer financial service providers to obtain,ā€ BetaKitā€™s Meagan Simpson writes. ā€œThe Canadian banking market is an oligarchy of five or six main banks. This, in addition to unfavourable regulations, makes it harder for local challenger-bank style startups as well, such as Koho. Revolut was seen as a competitor to companies like Toronto-based Koho.ā€

Full article: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.pymnts.com/news/digital-banking/2021/fintech-startup-revolut-says-goodbye-to-canada/amp/

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In a statement on Twitter, Revolut said that it had ā€œhoped to be able to bring Canada the full Revolut service but that is not possible at the moment. We think itā€™s in the best interests of our customers to pause for now and we hope in the future weā€™ll be able to return to Canada when we can offer the full suite of Revolut services.ā€

Honestly, Revolut was already a much better option even now. Like moving money across borders for free between Canada and Europe? Who else does that?

7

Try Wise. (Transferwise)

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Wise only allows transfers between different currencies. Not too bad, but doesnā€™t compare to Revolut.

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9

Revolut is discontinuing its Canadian beta program but on the other side starts beta testing for Serbia, Montenegro and North Macedonia. I hope those countries will have more luck than Canadaā€¦

10

Move to those countries (if you in Canada now) and you can join beta :rofl:

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@ihackalot Well, as usual, it depends on what features you need. Wise recently launched local bank details in Canada. If you need to receive ordinary bank transfers from Canada, this puts Wise way ahead of Revolut.

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Thanks! Youā€™re right, Wise became a cheap enough option. However I read Revolut is planning a come back on 2022, which Iā€™m looking forward to.