Topic

Fintech Bank Charters

Applications by fintech and digital asset firms for national bank or trust charters and the outcomes they receive.

Current stories

investConfirmed2 publishers

Upgrade applies for a Nevada bank charter with Cross River and Celtic still originating its loans

Upgrade applied on Oct. 12 to Nevada and the FDIC to form Upgrade Bank, an industrial loan company, after extending more than $53 billion of credit. It did not say how much lending would move onto the new bank. That share decides whether the charter adds funding or displaces a partner.

Publishers:americanbanker.com crowdfundinsider.com

Reality

Evidence55
Adoption: Insufficient
Hype gap+10
Incentives: Insufficient
Confidence62

investOne report1 publisher

SoFi added about $1 billion of deposits a month for two straight years

The FDIC's annual deposit report puts SoFi Bank 47th in the country at $46.8 billion, double its total two years earlier. Chime is holding its own balance sheet under $10 billion to keep uncapped interchange.

Publishers:americanbanker.com

Reality

Evidence76
Adoption84
Hype gap+12
Incentives26
Confidence70

investOne report1 publisher

The market took 21.7% off The Bancorp over a client worth 8% of quarterly revenue

Chime's proposed purchase of Stride Bank cost its sponsor bank $13.55 a share, even though the Chime contract runs to mid-2028. Valley Bank and Hatch Bank are already sponsoring a different kind of client.

Publishers:americanbanker.com

Reality

Evidence58
Adoption35
Hype gap+12
Incentives62
Confidence52

investOne report1 publisher

Frozen compliance budgets, multiplying AI risk: the CCO job becomes triage

An American Banker column urges compliance chiefs to swap constraint for strategy. With budgets flat, the real decision is which controls a bank agrees to run thinner.

Publishers:americanbanker.com

Reality

Evidence22
Adoption38
Hype gap+36
Incentives66
Confidence30

investOne report1 publisher

The OCC has a third answer on fintech charters, and it does not announce it

Zerohash's national trust application came back without a decision, the only such return in the agency's recent record. Applicants should now budget for outcome number three.

Publishers:americanbanker.com

Reality

Evidence58
Adoption22
Hype gap+14
Incentives66
Confidence55