The OCC announced this week that it has conditionally approved applications from Social Finance Inc. (SoFi) to create SoFi Bank, National Association (SoFi Bank, N.A.), as a full service national bank headquartered in...more
The D.C. federal district court hearing the lawsuit filed by the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) seeking to block the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency from granting a national bank charter to Figure...more
In This Issue. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) granted preliminary conditional approval to a third cryptocurrency firm chartering a national trust bank; the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)...more
The OCC granted preliminary conditional approval on April 23 to an application to charter Paxos National Trust (Paxos) as an uninsured national trust bank. Paxos, which currently operates as a New York state-charted limited...more
Intel has ousted CEO Robert Swan “as the company faces pressure from an activist investor and grapples with the loss of leadership in producing ultrafast chips.” Swan had been at the helm since January 2019...more
The Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) has filed a lawsuit in D.C. federal district court to block the OCC from granting a national bank charter to Figure Technologies Inc. According to the complaint, Figure,...more
The OCC recently finalized two broad updates to its regulations that increase flexibility for regulatory filings, including for corporate transactions such as business combinations, and update and clarify permissible...more
On December 7, 2020, several bank and credit union trade associations (collectively, the “Associations”) submitted a joint letter (the “Letter”) to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (the “OCC”) opposing the...more
Federal Banking Agencies Issue New Guidance on Managing the LIBOR Transition - The member agencies of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (“FFIEC”) have issued joint guidance for banking organizations...more
Ballard Spahr LLP has submitted a comment letter to the OCC in support of its proposed rule, “National Banks and Federal Savings Associations as Lenders” (the “Proposed Rule”)....more
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued an interpretive letter (Letter) on July 22, 2020, stating that national banks and federal savings associations have the authority to provide custody services for...more
The US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued an interpretive letter on July 22 allowing national banks and federal savings associations (FSAs) to provide cryptocurrency custody services to their customers in...more
Despite often operating on a nationwide scale, fintech companies rarely meet the stringent requirements for obtaining a national banking charter. Under the current regulatory landscape, these companies must therefore secure...more
On July 31, 2020, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) approved the national bank charter application of Varo Bank, N.A., a wholly-owned subsidiary of fintech Varo Money, Inc. The approved application is for a...more
Following ongoing efforts to promote the expansiveness of the national bank charter, on July 22, 2020, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued an interpretive letter confirming the authority of a national...more
As we reported, Acting Comptroller of the Currency Brian Brooks has previewed the OCC’s plans to introduce another special purpose national bank charter that would give payment companies a nationwide servicing platform and...more
On July 31, 2020, Varo Money Inc. announced that it was granted a national bank charter by the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). The charter will allow Varo, a mobile banking fintech, to launch a national...more
A new Payments Charter could enable entities to engage in payments-related activities on a nationwide basis, rather than by state. The US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s (OCC) newly appointed Acting...more
The New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) has filed its opening brief with the Second Circuit in the OCC’s appeal from the district court’s final judgment in DFS’s lawsuit challenging the OCC’s issuance of special...more
On June 25, 2020, Acting Comptroller Brian Brooks announced that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (the “OCC”) intends to introduce the first in a series of at least two national bank charters for payments...more
For the first time, a U.S. fintech company is acquiring a regulated U.S. bank, which will give it access to a stable and cheaper source of funding – as well as a national bank charter. On February 18th, LendingClub, one of...more
On February 7, all-mobile banking services startup Varo Money, Inc. (“Varo”) received the FDIC’s approval of its federal deposit insurance application for Varo Bank, N.A. (in formation) (the “Bank”). The FDIC’s approval...more
The Situation: The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ("OCC") has appealed a decision from the Southern District of New York that concluded that the OCC lacks the authority to grant "Fintech Charters" to nondepository...more
There have been a handful of recent marketplace lending developments that indicate that the legal uncertainties in the post-Madden world are not going away anytime soon....more
Nike’s top dog, CEO Mark Parker, is stepping down at the beginning of 2020, to be replaced by board member and ServiceNow CEO John Donahoe. Parker, who will assume the role of executive chair when Donahoe takes over, has been...more