How Do Neobanks Make Money Without Bank Branches?

A neobank can offer a free account, free debit card and slick mobile app without operating thousands of expensive branches.

So where does the money come from?

The answer is that neobanks have removed much of the physical infrastructure of traditional banking—not the economics of financial services. They make money every time customers spend, borrow, exchange currencies, subscribe to premium plans or leave money inside the platform.

Revolut shows how diversified that model can become. According to its 2025 annual report, card payments generated 22.2% of revenue, interest income 21.6%, subscriptions 15.7%, wealth products 14.7% and foreign exchange 13.4%. Total revenue reached £4.5 billion.

That is very different from the simple idea that a digital bank makes money by charging customers monthly account fees.

Your Debit Card Can Be the Product

For many neobanks, the first major revenue source is interchange.

When a customer pays $100 using a debit or credit card, the merchant does not receive the entire $100. Part of the merchant's payment-processing cost goes to the card-issuing bank as an interchange fee.

A neobank may receive part of that revenue.

Chime provides a particularly clear example. Its SEC filings say the substantial majority of its historical revenue came from interchange generated when customers used Chime-branded debit and credit cards. In 2025, debit-card interchange alone represented 49% of Chime's revenue, while credit-card interchange contributed another 20%.

That explains how a company can advertise accounts with no monthly maintenance fee while still making money from customers who never directly pay it.

Coinpaper's comparison of the best neobanks highlights why this model works: companies such as Chime compete heavily on low fees and convenience, making frequent account usage more valuable than charging customers just for having an account.

Deposits Can Make Money Too

Neobanks can also earn income from customer balances.

A licensed bank may invest deposits or lend part of them while paying customers a lower interest rate than it earns on the assets funded by those deposits. The difference contributes to net interest income.

Not every neobank is legally a bank, however.

Some operate through partner banks that actually hold customer deposits and provide regulated banking services. Chime, for example, works with The Bancorp Bank and Stride Bank, while Chime itself earns revenue under agreements with those institutions.

Others are moving toward direct banking licenses. Revolut's U.S. charter application is important precisely because becoming a bank could allow it to offer deposits and lending more directly instead of relying as heavily on intermediaries. Coinpaper covered that transition when Revolut applied for a U.S. bank charter.

One Customer Can Generate Several Revenue Streams

The strongest neobanks increasingly resemble financial supermarkets.

A customer might start with a free debit account and later pay for a premium subscription, exchange dollars into euros, buy stocks or crypto, take out a loan and keep savings on the platform.

Each activity can generate revenue.

Revolut's 2025 mix shows this clearly:

The underlying strategy is simple: acquire the customer cheaply with convenient everyday banking, then earn more as the customer uses additional products.

That also explains why neobanks increasingly compete with both traditional banks and newer forms of digital money. Coinpaper's look at whether stablecoins can replace bank accounts shows how payments and deposits are becoming contested territory across banking, fintech and crypto.