Revolut Takes on Square, PayPal in UK With POS Reader

Revolut announced Tuesday (July 5) the launch of Revolut Reader, a pocket-sized card reader designed to let merchants accept payments in person and on the go.

“The launch marks Revolut’s move into in-person payments, as the super app continues to diversify its offering for business customers,” the company said in a news release. “Payments will become as easy as cash with Revolut Reader, but without the hassle of dealing with coins and notes.”

Launching in the U.K., Revolut Reader offers instant and secure transactions for debit and credit cards, along with contactless payment methods. The tool is designed to run transactions all day and provides smart features and payment speeds under five seconds.

Revolut said its reader can be adapted to businesses’ other POS systems, with plans for the company to expand its Revolut Business offer to include a POS solution that will “bring more flexibility to larger merchants if they need to integrate Revolut Reader with POS systems already used.”

The company added that launching a merchant account with Revolut Business lets customers connect a business account to Revolut Reader and access tools such as local and international payments, foreign exchange at interbank rate, and company card management.

Read more: Revolut Pilots BNPL Product in Ireland

Last month, Revolut said it was piloting a buy now, pay later (BNPL) product for its nearly 2 million customers Ireland, with plans to debut the installment credit service in Poland and Romania later this year.

The new offering is prompting users to pay off balances within two months, “rather than calling on overdrafts and credit cards which don’t carry the same emphasis on quickly paying back the amount borrowed,” said Joe Heneghan, CEO of Revolut Europe.

Qualifying customers will receive a credit limit of 499 euros ($524), with creditworthiness assessed by Revolut via open banking data before transaction instead of at the point of sale, with the goal being to help keep users from being saddled with unmanageable debt. Revolut will charge users a 1.65% fee for each purchase.