Revolut Is Working Again: What Norwegian Customers Should Know After the Outage
Revolut confirmed on October 20, 2026, that its services had been restored following an outage affecting customers in several countries. Users experienced problems accessing the app and making card payments, among other issues. The bank stated that customers' money and personal information remained safe throughout the incident.
According to Revolut's Norwegian website, around 500,000 people in Norway use its services. This figure represents the total number of users, not the number affected by the outage. Public statements have not provided a separate breakdown of how Norwegian customers were affected. Following the incident, Revolut's status page for Norway showed that card payments, transfers and currency exchange services were operating normally.
For those who rely on Revolut for travel expenses or everyday purchases, the incident is a reminder of how important it is to have access to money when a banking service becomes unavailable.
Power Problems at Google Cloud
Google attributed the incident to a power-related problem affecting part of its cloud infrastructure in London. The failure occurred in the europe-west2-b availability zone, causing service disruptions, network problems and increased error rates across parts of the London region.
Google recorded an incident lasting 7 hours and 52 minutes. This refers to the cloud infrastructure failure, not necessarily the length of time individual Revolut customers experienced difficulties. Google also announced that a more detailed technical analysis would be published following its internal investigation.
Although the failure occurred in London, its impact was not limited to British customers. A banking app can serve customers in multiple countries using the same technical infrastructure. Revolut confirmed that its service disruptions were connected to the Google Cloud incident.
Having Two Cards Does Not Always Mean Having a Backup
Norges Bank, Norway's central bank, recommends that consumers have several ways to pay, including different payment cards, some cash and money available in more than one bank. The purpose is to ensure that payments remain possible even when parts of the financial system become unavailable.
Having both a physical Revolut card and a virtual card from the same bank does not necessarily provide adequate protection against a banking outage. Both cards may depend on the same underlying systems.
A card issued by another bank is therefore a more useful backup than simply having multiple cards linked to the same account.
For payments within Norway, Norges Bank specifically recommends keeping a physical BankAxept card. Some emergency payment arrangements rely on this type of card, and mobile payments may not work during certain disruptions.
When travelling abroad, the backup card should be accepted in the destination country. Funds should also be available in advance. An empty backup account offers little protection if it needs to be funded through a transfer from the bank experiencing technical problems.
Holding Euros in Revolut Does Not Prevent Payment Problems
Revolut allows Norwegian customers to pay in foreign currencies and can automatically convert funds from an available balance, including Norwegian kroner (NOK). This means customers do not always need to purchase euros or US dollars before travelling.
They can also choose to hold money directly in the currency they intend to spend.
However, the currency held in an account and the availability of the payment service are two separate matters.
Keeping euros in a Revolut account may eliminate the need for currency conversion when making a payment in euros. It does not guarantee that the transaction will succeed if the underlying payment service is unavailable.
Revolut also explains in its customer guidance that card payments can be declined for reasons unrelated to the available currency balance.
Converting money in advance is therefore not a solution to banking outages. Currency exchange determines which currency the funds are held in, while a backup card from a different bank provides an alternative payment method.
If customers need to use another card instead of Revolut, checking the final amount charged in Norwegian kroner is worthwhile.
Norges Bank's exchange rates can be used as a reference, but they are indicative mid-market rates rather than binding offers from banks. They do not guarantee the exchange rate applied to a particular card transaction.
DORA Also Applies in Norway
DORA, the Digital Operational Resilience Act, is the European regulatory framework designed to strengthen the financial sector's ability to withstand technology-related disruptions.
In Norway, the DORA Act and accompanying regulations entered into force on July 1, 2025. Within the European Union, the regulation has applied since January 17, 2025.
The rules cover IT risk management, emergency preparedness, reporting of major incidents, resilience testing and oversight of external technology providers.
Banks are required to do more than protect themselves against cyberattacks. They must also prepare for technical failures and maintain plans for restoring important services.
Norwegian Revolut customers hold their accounts with Revolut Bank UAB, a bank registered in Lithuania. As an EU-based credit institution, Revolut Bank UAB falls within the scope of DORA.
The fact that a customer lives in Norway does not place the banking relationship outside these requirements.
A bank's responsibilities under DORA also remain in place when an external technology provider experiences an outage. European supervisory authorities have clarified that financial institutions cannot transfer these regulatory responsibilities to their IT suppliers.
Revolut Has Described Its Resilience Measures
In its 2025 annual financial report, Revolut Bank UAB describes business continuity and disaster recovery plans intended to keep operations running and restore systems following serious incidents.
The bank states that these plans are tested regularly and refers to crisis simulations and further investment in operational resilience, explicitly mentioning DORA.
These disclosures show that Revolut has described measures related to the regulation.
However, they do not independently confirm that every DORA requirement has been fully met or that the bank's contingency arrangements performed adequately during the October 20 outage.
At the same time, an outage alone is not sufficient evidence of a regulatory breach.
Such an assessment would need to consider the bank's risk management, resilience testing and response to the incident. DORA establishes requirements for preparedness and recovery, but it does not guarantee that financial institutions will never experience technical difficulties.
Deposit Protection Is Not the Same as Immediate Access to Money
Norwegian Revolut customers should also distinguish between the protection of their bank deposits and their ability to access those funds whenever they need them.
Eligible deposits held with Revolut Bank UAB are covered by the Lithuanian deposit guarantee scheme, generally up to EUR 100,000 per depositor.
Deposits held with the bank are considered together, even when a customer has several accounts. This means there is no separate guarantee limit for each currency balance.
The deposit guarantee scheme applies when a bank is unable to repay eligible deposits. It does not ensure that a card transaction can be completed while the bank's systems are unavailable.
A temporary service disruption and a bank's inability to repay customer deposits are two different situations.
Following an outage, customers should review their transaction history, particularly if a payment appeared to fail.
Revolut distinguishes between the available account balance and amounts associated with pending transactions. This can explain differences between the balance displayed in the app and the amounts recorded in an account statement.
Checking the transaction status before attempting the same payment again can help avoid unnecessary duplicate transactions.