- Cross-border payments startup rolls out insurance program
- Revolut partners with Thomas Cook for pay-per-day travel insurance
Revolut, the fintech startup that launched in 2015 with its trademark offering of free international money transfers, has added another string to its bow: international medical and dental insurance.
The company is not morphing into an insurance firm. Instead, it’s partnering with third-party insurance providers, just as it did with its earlier mobile device insurance. On this occasion, Thomas Cook Money provides the actual insurance product.
Here’s the smart aspect: consumers can simply set it up and forget about it. Revolut harnesses your device’s geolocation capabilities to switch insurance coverage on and off automatically.
The new medical and dental insurance cover comes with a default price tag of £1 (AUD $1.74) per day (Revolut Premium customers can add travel insurance, too). Those who enjoy the more daring vacation pursuits can add winter sports cover and all customers can add additional cover for friends and family.
Customers who spend large amounts of time on the move and spend weeks or months abroad will enjoy another pleasing feature: Revolut will cap its travel insurance after a specified time (it’s also possible to pay an upfront fixed fee for an annual policy).
At this stage, it’s not clear if Revolut will request your location at regular intervals when the app is in the background, or whether it will only access your location when the app is open. The ultimate aim, already underway, is to build an insurance hub into the app, which will be capable of controlling all customer insurance needs. Revolut charges a small automatic fee for this service.
Revolut has fast become much more than simply a prepaid MasterCard with an international money transfers feature. The app also allows you to trade cryptocurrencies, request credit, and much more.
