Could be complicated.
You can’t escape the fact that revolut.com have made considerable waves in the traditional banking model and I can well understand the reasons for briefing against them.
Fact is, like @Mat_Davies I have a revolut.com account and the account I hold is based in the UK with a UK account structure and proper UK banking approvals.
I don’t use the account for “dodgy” trades and any monies held in the main (base) account are in sterling with a Euro wallet which is funded directly from identifiable sterling sources (Govt pensions). Euros from the account are either transferred directly to my French bank account or spent directly using the Revolut pre-paid card. The rates of exchange are updated second by second and surprising close (if not spot on) to the interbank shown here.
In the transfers I have done from my UK bank chequeing account to the sterling Revolut account, the transfer has taken place within seconds of hitting the send button on my UK sterling bank account app and the transfer of sterling to euro within the Revolut app happens instantaneously. From my Revolut euro wallet to my French Bank account typically takes a few minutes.
At no time have I been concerned about my funds in the Revolut account nor had any reason to doubt the safety of my funds.
I don’t have sufficient funds to test out a large transaction - sadly - but I am content with the conduct of my Revolut account.
So far I have not been able to fault Revolut - I am now using it as my main current account in Sterling & Euro - it seems light years ahead of traditional banking.
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I have just used Britline Int Payments (HiFX). I have used Transferwise and Revolut before but they can struggle with larger amounts due to their process of peer to peer trades. I.e. they need the same amount going the other way by other people at broadly the same time. If they can’t match then they need to buy in the open market so rates can suffer. This also means they can only trade Spot and can’t do future.
My daughter who is spending six months working in Europe uses a different bank that operates like Revolut giving her instant access to, in her case, Swiss Francs. The trouble is I can’t remember it’s name, it was a very straightforward word that made me think of flora or fauna. She was showing me how it works and keeps a record of her actions. At the time she said it was similar to Revolut.
It’s interesting that Martin is comparing HiFX and TransferWise, I’m signed up with both and always compare the bottom line before exchanging money and it’s been literally years since HiFX has been the better choice. Since TW became so straightforward to use through the App and the speed that transfers go through it really has become the standard.
not quite true. In the Revolut app you can set a price alert and fix an auto-exchange. The former notifies you when the rate hits your chosen level and the latter will automatically do the exchange for the amount set at your chosen rate without the need for further interaction.
Would that have been internal bank Euro exchange? I can’t remember very well (I was a bit busy as my daughter was born on 4.01.02) but I am fairly sure I only started using Euros from the start of January 2002.
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Yep, I can remember paying in francs for a coffee and the barman giving me the change in euros, January 2002 on my way back to the school near Saint Brieuc where I taught after the Christmas break.
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You are both correct - while the € was introduced in 1999 paper notes and coins did not begin to circulate until 2002 - however, presumably one could convert Sterling to a “€” account in 2000 and then leave it there to be collected in 2019.
Of course, even if you had a time machine, how to get 2019 Sterling back to 2000 given that the paper money design has changed (so today’s notes would not be recognised) is left as an exercise for the reader 
I use these people and have always found them lovely to deal with:
https://www.smartcurrencyexchange.com
And if you can sweet talk your bank out of charging you for doing a CHAPS payment, it’s win win!
How much money are you needing to transfer to need a CHAPS payment?! FPS payments are free & nearly instant, and some banks allow you to transfer up to £100k.
Hello Matt un
I think the original poster said he was transferring money for property purchase. We found that FPS was capped at £10k - £12k but if they’ve increased the limits, well and good. It’s just the bit where the Bank says they can’t get your money back if you make a mistake in the account details of the receiving account …
Cheers
F
Open an account with Transferwise. After using other companies I was one of their first customers many years ago and have never looked back. Download their app, do it all on your phone or PC, transfers made the same day, and in my long experience the best rates with no hidden charges. I use them twice a month to transfer pounds to euros. And, no, I’m not one of their staff, and I’m not being paid for writing this !!!
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Think I’ll stick with Transferwise.
Revolut’s raison d’etre seems to be to fly high and conquer the world but that’s way too risky for me.
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granted but you can still have one hell of ride in the meantime 
It’s all about risk management. The account is free so you have nothing to loose there.
Hedge your bets by transferring sterling to euros and then the euros to your normal French chequeing account - deal done with a good exchange rate in the meantime, take advantage of the tax free interest 
Hedging you bets is fine if you’re into betting in the first place.
For simple souls like me that work, earn mostly in € but occasionally in $ and £, use what I earn to pay bills and buy stuff and take so little interest in exchange rates that I couldn’t even tell you what rate I got yesterday, betting and speculating and risk management just ain’t on my radar. I can see why folks who get a kick out of squeezing a few extra euro out every transaction are enthusiastic about Revolut but I still don’t see it as a good fit for folk whose priority is their job or business activity, who when they need to move money for functional reasons, want to do it in a couple of clicks and then forget about it till next time.
as is the case with revolut
Yes but do you then put it right out of your head until next time you need to move money? Seem to me that Revolut wants higher user engagement. Could be wrong. But I get the strong feeling that providing a service to little fish like moi is not what the owner set Revolut up for.