Why have US neobanks underperformed European challenger banks?

Tom Blomfield · May 13, 2024

A cookie-cutter approach of porting the UK neobank product into the US does not work; you need to fundamentally rethink what a compelling product is for US consumers

N26, Revolut and Monzo's first attempt have all failed in the US, and no mainstream neobank has succeeded there — Chime only works because it targets gig economy workers while Chase Sapphire and Amex have the affluent market sewn up

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Jason Wilk · Apr 21, 2025

European neobanks' core value propositions — cross-border currency friction and instant mobile account opening — are not real pain points in the US, which is why they keep entering the US and retreating

Their product offering as built for other markets is simply not a fit for the US consumer

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Harry Stebbings · Oct 28, 2024

US regulatory fragmentation demonstrably caps fintech outcomes, since the biggest US fintech is Chime at $15bn while Europe has Revolut at $45bn.

Chime, the largest US player, is worth $15bn versus Revolut's $45bn despite Europe's fragmentation.

34:05 Us regulatory fragmentation caps fintech outcomes chime vs revolut

Sebastian Siemiatkowski · Feb 16, 2026

US neobanks have underperformed partly because US incumbent financial institutions are simply better — their apps are significantly stronger than European equivalents — which forces challengers into hard entry points like heavy lending and subprime losses

Comparing the US Amex and JPMorgan apps to their European counterparts shows the US incumbents are much better products, so challengers struggle to find a viable entry point

30:04 Strong us incumbent apps leave challengers no easy entry point

Jason Wilk · Apr 21, 2025

The financial super-app model has not been shown to work in the US market

There is far more competition in the US than in the markets where super apps succeeded

42:48 Super app model fails in us due to more competition

Jason Wilk · Apr 21, 2025

Revolut's superpower is effectively 'regulatory as a service' — the ability to enter many different countries and stand up operations quickly is their most impressive and enviable capability

Their speed at setting up licensed operations across countries is remarkable, and Dave's products are needed in more than just the US

51:17 Revoluts regulatory as a service speed explains its edge

Mark Goldberg · Oct 25, 2024

Revolut's product velocity is unparalleled in any market including Nubank, and no US consumer fintech has been able to match it

Revolut moves extremely quickly on the breadth of products it offers customers

41:22 Revoluts product velocity is unmatched by any competitor

Harry Stebbings · Oct 25, 2024

Revolut is more likely to win the US market than Chime is

42:04 Revolut more likely than chime to win the us market

Mark Goldberg · Oct 25, 2024 · speculative

The company that ultimately wins the large US consumer finance market may be one nobody has heard of yet

42:11 Eventual us consumer finance winner may be an unknown company today